Prophet Pearls #48 – Shoftim (Isaiah 51:12-52:12)

Prophet Pearls Shoftim, haftarah, haftarah consolation, isaiah, isaiah 53, Keith Johnson, nehemia gordon, orthodox jewish bible, parashah, Parsha, parshas, parshat, Prophet Pearls, prophets, prophets portion, shoftim, shoftim haftarah, YeshuaIn this episode of Prophet Pearls, Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson discuss the Prophets portion for Shoftim covering Isaiah 51:12-52:12. Gordon and Johnson begin with the elephant in the room: Why does Shoftim (and Ki Teitzei following) decisively leapfrog over Isaiah 52:13-53:12?  Was the omission of this key prophetic passage for Christians and Messianics a conspiracy or did the Rabbis just not consider it comforting?

Gordon notes how Isaiah’s doubling of words (“Comfort, comfort,” “I, I,” “Awake, awake,” “Depart, depart”) make it easy to imagine the prophet proclaiming from a public square. While comparing different translations, the duo check out verses from the Orthodox Jewish Bible. Gordon’s explanations for the translator’s broad choices will leave you scratching your head—and chuckling.

The duo end by debating to whom the omitted verses refer and find common ground even here in the ofttimes polarizing world of Isaiah 53.

Artwork for this week's episode is a painting by Mara Hofmann, artist.

"Arise, shake off the dust, Sit on your throne, Jerusalem! Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive one, Fair Zion!" (Isaiah 52:2)

I look forward to reading your comments!

Download Prophet Pearls Shoftim Transcript
Prophet Pearls #48 - Shoftim (Isaiah 51:12-52:12)

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: Welcome back to Prophet Pearls. This is Keith Johnson along with Nehemia Gordon, no longer tip-toeing around the tulips of tradition. We’re going right into the actual issues the people are faced with. We’re in Isaiah chapter 51, and I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this without getting into some of those landmines in the Bible. That’s right, folks. We’ve been in Isaiah; we are in the Isaiah Series right now. We are in the middle of an Isaiah Series, we’ve got a few more left and I’ll tell you something, it’s like a maze for me, and I have to confess, there’s been a lot of interpretation, misinterpretation, back and forth about this stuff. I just only hope that when we get to the verse - if we ever get to it, which I don’t think we will - that we will stay within the language, history and context.

Nehemia: What’s the verse?

Keith: Whatever one I come to that might be scary...

Nehemia: Oh, okay.

Keith: You know, because people pick and choose what the verses are going to be here. No, we don’t pick and choose.

Nehemia: Who are the people?

Keith: The people, the traditionalists, they came through and said, “This is connected with this, and this is connected...”

Nehemia: We’ve got to… can we talk about the elephant in the room? We start at 51:12, and it goes until 52:12, and literally the next verse, which is 52:13, begins the famous section, which Christians talk about Isaiah 53, but Isaiah 53 actually begins in 52:13. And exactly the verse before the beginning, whoever chose this section, the rabbis, they stopped. And is this a conspiracy? Can we talk about that?

Keith: And why did they stop? Why did they stop?

Nehemia: Why did they stop?

Keith: I don’t know. They saw the hand that said stop, and so, they stopped. No, I’m telling you, look, here’s the point. I want to say this.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: I want to say this right from the beginning. Nehemia, we’ve worked very hard together on this.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: We’ve done 40-some of these things, you have full authority… permission, I have full… If you want to continue, whatever you want to do, I’m just going to make sure…

Nehemia: I’m talking about, in the traditional section, why did they stop? Why did they stop, just before Isaiah 53, which is the key passage for Messianics and Christians? I’ll tell you what I’ve heard. Again, this is me referring back to what I’ve been presented with by Christians and Messianics, who have argued, “Look, in the sections… they do Isaiah 51:12 to 52:12… the very following week they do Isaiah 54:1 through 10. And what they skip in the middle is the Suffering Servant, and they actually give the impression that, ‘Oh, they read the entire book of Isaiah,’ this is the impression these people give. But the rabbis decided to skip this one chapter because they didn’t want the Jews to know what’s in it.”

This is what I’ve heard, and I want to offer an alternative explanation of why the rabbis skipped Isaiah 53, and I think it’s very simple. One of the things I said last week, whenever it was, you remember, I said there are seven sections which are called the Sections of Comfort.

It’s between Tisha b’Av, the 9th of Av, which is the day on which the rabbis say the Temple was destroyed, until Rosh Hashanah, or Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets. For the rabbis it’s the New Year. Those seven Shabbats are sections in Isaiah that have nothing to do with the Torah portion, but they are sections of comfort from Isaiah. Here’s the reason the rabbis skipped Isaiah 53; it wasn’t comforting to them. Maybe, it’s because there are blinders on their eyes; you can argue that. But they read Isaiah 53 and said, “Yep, doesn’t do anything for us, move on”.

Now, why did this section that we’re reading comfort them? Because it says, the first words, “Anokhi, Anokhi, humenachemchem” - “I, I am he, who is your comforter”. So, it’s pretty straight forward.

Keith: You know, what I actually like is that from the very beginning of Prophet Pearls we acknowledged the fact that the sections were not inspired.

Nehemia: Right, absolutely.

Keith: They were picked as a connection to the Torah portions. I was still baffled by this as far as all these in Isaiah, and you explained what was going on there. I wish they would have let me pick the…

Nehemia: … the sections.

Keith: Yes, for these last sections, I would have picked something a little different.

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: But listen, let me tell you one thing that I like, and we are at 51:12, folks, those that are following with us. And I found it interesting, this thing “Anokhi, Anokhi” three times Isaiah 43:11 and Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah 51:12. All three times are in Isaiah, and the first one is “Anokhi, Anokhi I am Yehovah.”

Nehemia: Tell them what “Anokhi, Anokhi, Anokhi” means.

Keith: Yes, I’m going to… Look, can I explain? I’m in the middle of my...

Nehemia: Please, explain it.

Keith: No, first. First, I’m going to say this. So one is Isaiah 43:11, the second one is Isaiah 43:25 “Anokhi, Anokhi”, “I am the one who” - what they say here is - “who wipes out your transgressions’’, and then 51:12, “Anokhi, Anokhi, he is the one” - “I am the one, He who comforts you,” that is what we’ve just talked about.

And the word “Anokhi’’ is “I”, and so we have “I, I.” So, it’s like He’s saying: “I” but its emphasis, “I, even I” is what it says in English. But here it’s “I, I, I’m the one that does this.” Three things: I am the one, there is no savior, I am the one who wipes out transgressions, I am the one who comforts you. So, when I see that, I get kind of excited because I am reminded immediately of how Yehovah introduced Himself of the ten matters, he uses “Anokhi” – “I am Yehovah, your God”.

And, so, like I said, I don’t know why it is that Isaiah is the only one that has this, unless you can find something… maybe, you can tap tap tap...

Nehemia: I’ve got them. So, first, here is the interesting thing in Biblical Hebrew. There are two different words for “I”. There is the word “anokhi”, which is the more formal word, and there is the word “ani”, which is slightly less formal. And we have the same thing, by the way, “we”. There’s “anakhnu”, and there is “anu”, which is the abbreviated form.

Deuteronomy 32:39, He says, “See now for I, I am He, and there is no god with Me,” and the reason you did not find it is that it’s “Ani, Ani”. You’ve got to look for both. And then again, Isaiah 48:15, He says, “Ani, Ani dibarti af krativ.” “I, I, spoke, even called him.” And then Hosea, chapter 5, verse 14 says, “Ani, Ani, etrof, elekh, esa ve’ein matzil”, “I, I will,” you know, it’s describing God here as a lion, “I will attack and I will go, and none shall save from me”.

Yes, so we have it, these three times, plus how many times did you have?

Keith: Three.

Nehemia: So, we’ve got six.

Keith: You know what?

Nehemia: Now you’ve got to find the seventh.

Keith: Now the point is that, when I read that first part and He says that, “Ani, Ani” or “I, I”, and then it says, what is the follow-up from that? “Who are you, that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who is made like grass.” In other words, it’s like, “I’m the one, I,” you know, and if we looked at each time that He talks about this is, at least in Isaiah, he has these three different things. He says, “I am, I, I, I,” I’m sorry, “Anokhi, Anokhi”, and then it says, “Who are you that you are afraid of man, who dies, and of the son of man…”

Nehemia: What verse are you in?

Keith: This is the beginning of Prophet Pearls.

Nehemia: Oh, 51:12. So you’re back there. I thought you were jumping all over…

Keith: No, no, no, no, systematic.

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: “That you have forgotten,” oh, man, I love this phrase… and in English, now in the NASB, “that you have forgotten Yehovah, the one who makes you - or your maker? Who stretched out the heavens and laid out the... ” Any time we talk about the stuff that He does or He has done, as it pertains to creation, it just seems so massive and so big, especially when you think about what we know about the universe, not what we don’t know, just about what we know about the universe, and how large and how big and how amazing it is, and the Earth and the foundations of the Earth and the heavens, and all of that. I just get excited when He says, “I’m the one who does it. I’m the maker, I’m the Creator, I’m the one that did it.” And I mean, look…

Nehemia: I’m the maker, I’m the baker, and the candlestick maker.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: So, I want to go back to verse 12, because you’re running past it. So He says, “I, I am he menachemchem,” and that should be our Word of the Week, cause it’s from the root Nehemiah. The root nekham

Keith: You’re clearly tired. No, we started out with you saying about... and we just did…

Nehemia: Beseder, but I want to follow up. I’m tired but I didn’t get to share my whole shpeil about it. So, Nun-Khet-Mem is comfort, and menachem is the comforter, and menachemchem is your comforter.

Keith: Aha!

Nehemia: And that’s Mem-Nun-Khet-Mem-Khaf-Mem, menachemchem. Now, when I hear this, the first thing that comes to mind, and there’s no doubt in my mind that the rabbis who chose this section, what came to their mind, is Lamentations 1:16, where it says, “Ella ani bochiya, eini eini yorda mayim” - “over these do I cry, my eye, my eye, goes down with water, water goes down my eye”, - “ki rakhak mimeni menachem, meshiv nafshi,” - “for far away from me is the menachem, the comforter, who restores my soul,” and the rabbis understood this to refer to the Messiah. And that Jeremiah was seeing the destruction of the Temple, and singing this Lamentation, the book of Lamentations, “Eha”, and he said, “Oh, man, this is bad, the Temple has just been destroyed, and the Messiah is really far off, he’s hundreds, maybe thousands of years away.” And so, that’s interesting, here in verse… in 51:12 the menachem is Yehovah, and in Lamentations 1:16 it’s the Messiah.

Here’s some homework for people: go look at Luke 2:25 in the New Testament, which speaks about the Messiah as the comforter. Interesting stuff. That’s my comforter issue we’re talking about, yeah, so…

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: And I’m Nehemia, this is Menachem.

Keith: Yeah.

Nehemia: My father could have called me Menachem, but he didn’t, yeah.

Keith: Do you know anyone named Menachem?

Nehemia: I do, yeah. Actually, there was a rabbi who died in 1994 whose name was Menachem, and his disciples, to this day, say he’s the Messiah. What’s the proof? That his name is Menachem, comforter.

Keith: So, when they say this guy named Menachem Begin, is that the same name?

Nehemia: Oh, that is the same name, yeah.

Keith: The exile. Can I say that?

Nehemia: What verse you are in? 14?

Keith: Oh, man, I’m going to make you read this if you don’t keep up, and I’m dead serious. No, what’s this? 13 or 14? I just read 13 and then you said you wanted to go back to 12!

Nehemia: Beseder, now go on to 14.

Keith: Okay. “The exile will soon be set free and will not die in the dungeon.” Now, they must know where we’re doing Prophet Pearls. Folks, let me tell you something…

Nehemia: Are we in the dungeon?

Keith: We are in the dungeon. So there is an apartment, there is the ground level, and then there’s a basement, and then there’s a sub-basement. How do I know it is the sub-basement? It’s the only apartment down here, and that is where we are. By the way, I want to say thank you to Bonnie and Olly, these two are sponsoring us, these are…

Nehemia: Hey, Bonnie and Olly!

Keith: … Prophet Pearl sponsors and I, you know, I don’t often talk about what people do and stuff like that, but Bonnie was really instrumental in terms of inviting us out to… has invited us out… Now, we were out there together, was it two times or three times out in Oregon?.

Nehemia: Many times.

Keith: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s an amazing…

Nehemia: They’ve got every year this annual, wonderful Sukkot event over in Canby, Oregon.

Keith: Yeah, and what did they call it? It’s in Canby, Oregon, and I’m not sure what the name is, but let me just say this, I am, please, I get me in trouble if I’d lie to it, but I want to say to Bonnie and Olly, thank you so much for being Prophet Pearls Partners, thank you for what you’ve done in terms of introducing us, and it was, and it’s a great event. I have to say, for Sukkot it’s hard to get any better than what they do out in Canby, Oregon, it’s just amazing, so…

Nehemia: In fact, this past year, we did five sukkot events, and…

Keith: We did do five. It was five.

Nehemia: We did. We did five.

Keith: Yeah, and we stopped there only for a day.

Nehemia: And I absolutely loved this event, we did in…

Keith: Yeah, it’s amazing.

Nehemia: In Canby, Oregon.

Keith: So, thank you so much.

Nehemia: Such wonderful people.

Keith: Yeah. So, we are in the dungeon, but we do thank you, Bonnie and Olly, for supporting this, and actually they supported us on a couple more also. But it says, “in the dungeon nor will his bread be lacking”. Now let’s see: “The exile will soon be set free, and will not…”

Nehemia: I don’t have exile here, that’s why I didn’t know what verse you were reading….

Keith: Yeah, okay, see you didn’t understand.

Nehemia: So, this is homework here; go read verse 14 in several literal translations, find out what it says, what it doesn’t say.

Keith: And actually, let me say this to people. Hopefully what you are doing is you’ve always got at least two, at least, at least two translations. And I really, I love the NIV from the perspective of the language, in terms of modern language. I don’t like it so much in terms of some of the decisions it makes with translation. I like the NASB because it seems to me, and often times it seems to be more wooden, and when I say wooden, it tries to go like, word by word. By no means is the NASB looking at Hebrew and getting it exactly word for word, but I find a lot of times that it does a pretty good job of not smoothing things over quite as much as the NIV. But I like to have a couple open like that, maybe even the KJV or the JPS, and that just gives you another chance to look and see what people are doing, and even if you don’t always know exactly what the original is, you can kind of know what the issues are. That’s what I appreciate about looking at different translations.

Nehemia: Okay. Anyway, this one, look at least at three or four translations, this is a really interesting one, and can I tell people the real answer?

Keith: No.

Nehemia: It’s this word that’s very difficult to translate.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And they weren’t sure what it meant, and I’m not much sure what it means, that’s why they gave such wildly different things.

Keith: Okay. Awesome. So, people can do that and then make a comment?

Nehemia: Please, come to NehemiaWalls.com, BFAinternational.com, post what you found about Isaiah 51:14, and about anything else. Everyone out there has homework, everyone listening to this must post at least one comment on NehemiaWalls.com. or BFAinternational.com. Comment, thought, prayer, something related to this passage.

Keith: Now, I want to know why, in the English, they give us parentheses in this next verse, in the NASB. The NASB does this. It says, “For I am Yehovah, your God, who stirs up the sea and the waves roar.” And then there is a parenthetical statement, “Yehovah Tzava’ot,” or, “the LORD of hosts is His name.”

Nehemia: Oh, it’s because He’s speaking at the beginning of verse 15, and then He is in the third person, at the end of verse 15.

Keith: And so that’s why it’s in parentheses.

Nehemia: Absolutely.

Keith: All right, good deal.

Nehemia: And why it this really happening? Meaning, the parentheses doesn’t really explain it. So, it’s the prophet speaking, and then in verse 16 again he says, “Ve’asim,” “And I put.” So, wait a minute; how is he “he”, if he is “I”? And that’s because the prophet kind of like… in the middle of his prophecy, he is speaking Yehovah’s words, and all of the sudden he stops and he says, “Yehovah, Tzeva’ot shemo,” “Yehovah of hosts is His name”. Who’s this “I” we’re talking about? In case you don’t know, the prophet fills you in.

Keith: “I put my words in your mouth and I’ve covered you with the shadow of my hand to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say these words in Zion,” “ami ata?” Now let me tell you something, Nehemia…

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: I could do a really funny thing if I wanted to...

Nehemia: Please.

Keith: I can go move in and out, give a little English, give a little Hebrew, give a little English, give a little Hebrew, and completely confuse you! Now, we were eating lunch today, folks, I’m going to put my friend on the spot, yes, I am. We were eating lunch today, and we were talking about what has been a continual frustration for me, and a continual frustration for me is that we have people that will sort of move into wanting to say, “Okay, we want to use some aspects, say of the original language, Hebrew or the ancient sources,” not really know what it is, but then it is like having a grenade and not knowing that they’ve pulled the pin.

And so there are these examples I was sharing with Nehemia, where I had one situation where I was telling a man, “Listen, do you know what the phrase means that you’re about to use?” And he said, “No.” And I was like, “Let’s just first start with that.” And it ended up he didn’t listen to me and he went to do what he’s doing. And I’m like, “No, no, no!” And whatever, he got it wrong. But then you found this translation, Nehemia……

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: And I don’t know what to do except to just say I’m still baffled. I’m baffled by this translation, because you read some of it to me, it’s in English, in Hebrew, in Yiddish, and something else.

Nehemia: Well so here….

Keith: Can you tell me?

Nehemia: Yes, it’s this translation called the Orthodox Jewish Bible.

Keith: And the Orthodox wrote it?

Nehemia: No.

Keith: No, no, no. Don’t say anything else, just a second. So the name of the Bible is what?

Nehemia: The Orthodox Jewish Bible.

Keith: Okay. So you told me about this Bible, and I’m thinking, “Okay, let me see what the Orthodox Jews did with this translation,” and then you dropped a bomb on me. And what was the bomb?

Nehemia: It was a guy from the Assemblies of God who made it.

Keith: Okay. I’m thinking, let’s take a look at it. So, could you do me a favor? I don’t know if you’ve even got that…

Nehemia: They have it online here at Biblegateway.com.

Keith: Can you go to Isaiah chapter 51, and can you go…

Nehemia: Which verse?

Keith: The one that I just used, 51:15. I want to use this, and I want to tell you what… Okay, let me not say anything. Would you be willing to read the translation in 51:15?

Nehemia: Sure. Just that verse?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Okay, and again, this is from the Orthodox Jewish Bible, which isn’t Orthodox and isn’t Jewish.

Keith: But wait, and they’re doing this for what reason?

Nehemia: Clearly to try to convert Jews, who… In other words, if you are a Jew, and they come to… you know, with the King James Bible, well, it doesn’t resonate with you, it sounds like a gentile translation. When they come to you with a Jewish translation, and, well, it doesn’t say what they want it to say. So, what they’ve done is they’ve twisted the translation to say what they want it to say, and then they threw in some Hebrew words to make Jewish people feel comfortable.

Keith: So, can you tell us, can you give us that verse?

Nehemia: And here’s what’s ridiculous about it, to me, what kind of insults my intelligence, is they have mixed Israeli Hebrew, Ashkenazic Hebrew, Yiddish, King James English and modern English.

Keith: Well I’m going to have you do two verses then?

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: I want you to 15 and 16. First, I’m going to read in NASB.

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: “For I am the LORD your God who stirs up the sea and the waves,” are you with me, folks? “Roar, The LORD of hosts is His name. I’ve put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the Earth and to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” 15 and 16, can you read it?

Nehemia: But I am HaSh… I can’t even read this with a straight face. “But I am Hashem eloheikha, who stirs up the yam, whose waves roar, - hashem tsva’os shemo, and I put My words in thy mouth and I have covered thee in the tzel of mine yad, that I may set shomayim in place, and lay the foundation of erets and say unto Zion, ‘Thou art My people.’” So, really? You’re going to mix Ashkenazic Hebrew…?

Keith: No, that’s an example, where I can…

Nehemia: And King James English.

Keith: I’m sitting and I’m listening and I’m saying, “Okay, some parts of it... No, Nehemia, so, some parts of it are Hebrew, like I guess…

Nehemia: They’re Ashkenazic Hebrew, which is what Jews in America traditionally have spoken or read; what I grew up reading, as opposed to Israeli Hebrew. But this has actually a mix of both. So for example, it says Hashem tzva’os shemo. Tzva’os is the Ashkenazic pronunciation of Tzva’ot, and what’s Hashem? Well, if you’re an Orthodox Jew would be offended by “Yehovah”, so they’ll give you Hashem. But look at this phrase, “I have covered thee in the tzel of Mine yad…”

Keith: That’s KJV.

Nehemia: That’s a mix of KJV and Hebrew, and Israeli Hebrew, because if its Ashkenazic Hebrew, it’s not yad, it’s yod, so why else… Like, do they even know what they’re doing? And then shomayim, which is the Ashkenazic Hebrew. I mean, really?

Keith: So, let me ask you a question. If I handed you this Bible and said, Nehemia, I, this is…

Nehemia: Can I say something even more radical? Can we jump ahead and read Isaiah 53?

Keith: Can you hold it?

Nehemia: I don’t know if I can. Okay, I’ll hold it.

Keith: Will you bring this back? Because here it is, I want you to read 53, but I want you to read 53 from the Hebrew, I want to read from here, I want you to pick an English. When we get to 53, we’re… Listen…

Nehemia: We’re not getting to 53, it’s not part of the section.

Keith: No, we’re going to get to… No, no, no.

Nehemia: It’s not part of the section.

Keith: I know, but I am saying at the end, we’re going to have to…

Nehemia: We’ll do something there…

Keith: Well, the reason… Okay, tell you what - Nehemia, you’ve got one shot. You want to do 53 now or you want to do it later?

Nehemia: No, we’ll hold on to it.

Keith: Okay, thank you. That’s what I thought. Alright, so listen, that’s just an example where I say, and in all seriousness, where I told you, what started the conversation, is that sometimes it does break my heart, where there are people that really have a desire to want to know some of this stuff, and can I be clear about something? Sometimes we’re laughing about it, and we’re not laughing at… how can I say this? I said it today at lunch, it’s on the border of ridiculous.

Nehemia: This is beyond the border of ridiculous. This is actually beyond the border of ridiculous.

Keith: So, they think, we’re going to spend these resources to put this money behind this translation, and we’re going to hand it to an Orthodox person…

Nehemia: Let me say what I wanted to say. If an Orthodox Jew - this is a completely hypothetical situation, I want to be very clear about that - but imagine the scenario, the Orthodox Jew is sleeping in bed and he has a dream, and Jesus Christ appears to him, and says, “I am the Messiah, here are the holes in my hands, and you must accept me.” And this Orthodox Jew wakes up and he says, “What was that? I’d better go look at the Bible and see what’s going on. And he by some miracle gets onto Bible Gateway and opens up Isaiah 53 and reads it from the Orthodox Jewish translation. He’ll say, “I just had bad pizza last night,” because he’ll read this and say…

Keith: In other words, if this was a real revelation, this would take it away.

Nehemia: This would take it away, because he’ll read this and he’ll say, “This sounds like some kind of Christian trying to trick me.” That’s what it really sounds like. I mean, I’m looking at this translation, and it’s a mix of this type of Hebrew and that type of Hebrew, and King James English. This hypothetical Orthodox Jew would look at this and say, “Well, I know this is deception, so whatever was in my dream can’t be true.”

And that’s what breaks my heart. That if somebody from the Jewish world or from the non-Jewish world is looking and trying to understand an Orthodox Jewish perspective, or really trying to understand Scripture, and they come across this, they’ll either be desperately confused, they’ll be misled, or they’ll say, “This just sounds like some kind of scam by someone who really didn’t know what they were doing and they didn’t do a very good job of scamming.”

You know, it is almost like when I was in China, and I would buy stuff, and it would be a counterfeit, and it would have the name of the name brand misspelled, and I’d look at that and it’ll be like, “Oh, yeah, ‘Gucci’ – G-U-C-H-I yeah. I don’t think I’m going to get that one. Okay, let’s move on.”

You know, like this is beyond absurd.

Keith: I want to say the other thing, and the reason I also bring this up folks, I hope people look at this and also can get to the point that here we have the word of God, in its original language, history and context, and someone is trying to… whatever it is that they’re trying to do. But really it’s like having a beautiful painting by a master artist that someone says, “You know, I’m just going to add a little paint over here, and I am going to cut this part over there, and then I am going to redo this part over here, and then pass it off as Picasso or whatever.”

Nehemia: Look, what they could have legitimately done is said, “We want to have an Israeli come along and translate this into English, but whenever there’s a term that’s important we’ll stick that Israeli term in, or have an Ashkenazic Jew do the same thing.” And it would’ve been consistent, but it’s clearly done by a gentile who doesn’t really know the difference, and that’s where it becomes absurd, you know, it’s really beyond ludicrous.

Keith: Okay, now can I go to 17?

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: So, here’s what it says in the NASB: “Arouse yourself! Arouse yourself!” “Arouse yourself! Arouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk from Yehovah’s hand the cup of His anger,” and that image is… wow.

Nehemia: By the way, I just want to point out which maybe is the obvious, but we have a series of prophecies here, many of which begin - not all of them - many of them begin with a double word. Verse 12, “Anokhi, Anokhi,” - “I, I”. The next prophecy, here is verse 17, “Hitoreri, hitoreri’’ - “Awake, awake”. And this is a theme that repeats. We read in the first prophecy, if you remember in Isaiah 40, it was “Nahamu, nahamu”.

Isaiah 52:1 is “Uri, uri”, again, a different word for “awake, awake”. So we have a series of prophecies throughout this section of Isaiah where each prophecy opens up with this double-word, and you’ve got to imagine Isaiah in the public square in Jerusalem, and he’s preaching, and he gets the people’s attention “Suruu, suruu!” That’s how it gets by this repeated word. For me, that brings me into the public square, hearing the prophet preach. Verse 17…

Keith: Is that where we are?

Nehemia: Or 18.

Keith: Okay. “There is none to guide her among all the sons she has born, nor is there one to take her by the hand among all the sons she has reared. These two things have befallen you,” and before I go any further, one of the things that fascinates me about Scripture is when you start talking about these numbers. “Five things of this and six of that,” or “Seven things for this and that, two things of this and four of that.” I don’t know what it is, but ever since I started reading the Bible, whenever I’d see a number, I would slow down because I felt like there was going to be some great revelation. It says, “These two things have befallen you; who will mourn for you? The devastation and destruction, famine and sword,” and then here comes the word again, “How shall I comfort you?”

Nehemia: Really? Is that what you have, “How shall I comfort you?”

Keith: Yeah.

Nehemia: So in Hebrew it says, “mi”, - which is Hebrew for “who”, and the answer is “anahameh” - “I will comfort you”.

Keith: Ah, I love it.

Nehemia: It’s a question and an answer.

Keith: Okay. Now here’s the thing, I’m going to read one more verse, and then there’s another prophecy that’s coming, okay? “Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of every street, like an antelope in a net, full of the wrath of Yehovah, the rebuke of your God.” Now, when it switches to 51:12, no, that’s 51:21… so let me tell you what’s interesting, this is why I wanted to say this - so in the NASB they give us a paragraph marking 4:51:21, instead of at the end of 51:21, starting with 51:22.

Nehemia: I see. It says, “Therefore, listen to this.” Well, what’s this? This is either what he just said in verse 20, or it’s what he’s about to say, and the way I read it with the paragraph in the Hebrew is that the “this” is what he just said and 22 is a new matter.

Keith: Okay, so you would say “therefore”, in other words, therefore, referring back.

Nehemia: “Therefore, listen to this,” what I just told you.

Keith: I don’t know how it lays it out, I’m actually on my computer here with this, and the NIV, if I do something real quick, if I look at 51:21, do I see them do the same thing? Yes. “Therefore hear this,” this is started as a break, a new paragraph, a paragraph back to, rather than referring back.

51:22, “Now, thus says Your Lord, your Adonai, Yehovah your God, even your God, Yehovah your God, who contends…” how many times does Isaiah use riv, I don’t know - we looked at it at one time, I think it was like - it was a crazy amount of times.

Nehemia: But the word “riv” again, which means entering into a case, a strife, an argument with somebody.

Keith: “Behold, I’ve taken out of your hand the cup of reeling” - what is reeling?

Nehemia: It’s bad stuff.

Keith: It’s bad stuff, a chalice…

Nehemia: In Hebrew its poison, kos hatar’elah, the cup of poison.

Keith: Yeah. “And the chalice of my anger, you will never drink it again.” I love it when He says that kind of thing, because I think He means it.

Nehemia: Well, so what is the cup of poison? The cup of poison, or reeling, is symbolically when you are punished by God, you drink His cup. You drink the cup of His wrath, and what I hear from this is that the clear sign of the redemption of the Messiah is that there will be no more suffering. He’s saying you’ll never have to drink from that cup again.

Keith: And that seems really interesting. If you didn’t know that, like when I read in Matthew and it says “May this cup pass from me,” and I don’t have that in my mind, like, that’s really a beautiful picture here, the idea that the cup is not going to… In other words, once you get to that place there won’t be anymore… He says, “May this cup pass from me,” there won’t be a cup, there’s not going to be any cup to drink, that will be at the end of that, there won’t be any more of this suffering and pain and strife, etc. “I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Lie down that we may walk over you.’ You have even made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walk over it.” So, lie down on your stomach, they walk over...

Nehemia: Someone will drink the cup, just not you.

Keith: Exactly. And then we get to your 50…

Nehemia: 52:1.

Keith: Your third, double thing, “Awake, awake”, yes, how did they say it there?

Nehemia: “Uri, uri, liv shihuzekh leZion.”

Keith: In modern Hebrew, how would you tell me to awake, awake?

Nehemia: “Titorer, titorer.”

Keith: Get up.

Nehemia: Yalla, titorer! Which is kind of the word he uses in 17, he just uses the imperative.

Keith: Give you guys a little personal side of this, you know, we start early in the morning. Nehemia usually sends something to me via Skype, saying, “I’m awake,” and that means, I’m on my way, and by 8 o’clock we are into this, and you know that’s funny because we go thru the morning, we try to do one or we try to do two, we try to take a break, we try to do one, we try to do two, and it really is something, because for me, it is like I told you the other day, Nehemia, once we get into this, it’s like endorphins, you know, it is like where you’re running...

Nehemia: Can I get some of those endorphins right now?

Keith: Yeah. You want some of those! I’m like, you still with me brother? Are you still with me? We need you on the wall! We’ve got to have you on that wall!

Nehemia: Do you want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!

Keith: So, listen, are we awake? Are we good? Because…

Nehemia: Oh, so this is the prophet speaking to Nehemia.

Keith: Yeah.

Nehemia: He knew I would come and be tired, so he said, “Uri, uri…” Wait, wait, he can’t be speaking to me, because it’s feminine, he’s saying, “Uri, uri, to Zion” which is a woman.

Keith: Yeah, amen.

Nehemia: Meaning, a city is feminine in Hebrew.

Keith: “Clothe yourself in strength to remind us again…” It’s beautiful, “O, Zion, clothe yourself in beautiful garments, O, Jerusalem,” and I think you said this in one of the introductions - did you not say “Ir HaKodesh” or did you say “the holy city”?

Nehemia: I don’t remember, could be. I‘ll do it in the next one.

Keith: Yeah. “for the uncircumcised…” Are we almost done? “For the uncircumcised and the unclean will no longer come into you”. This is great image, it’s like, look, the city has been used for all of these different people, and all of these different groups, and all these different leaders, and ones who’ve tried to rule and trample and do all these terrible things, and it says, “Listen, I’m just letting you know there’s going to be a time when that is not going to be the case. They’re no longer going to come in.”

Nehemia: Now, is this a controversy for people in your tradition, what we just read? That no uncircumcised will enter into Jerusalem in the future?

Keith: I don’t know.

Nehemia: Did you ever hear this preached in the church?

Keith: No.

Nehemia: Okay. Anyway, the parallel people go look it up - Ezekiel 44:9, that’s your homework, this is what sovereign Yehovah says, “No foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter My sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.” That’s the NIV translation, go compare a few translations and post some of your thoughts and comments about that on Nehemiaswall.com. and BFAinternational.com

Keith: Yeah. “Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, o captive Jerusalem, lose yourself from the chains around your neck, o captive daughter.” You better say something about 52:2, is there anything you want to say?

Nehemia: I love that image. “Shake off the dust,” the image is a dog, say “Georgia”.

Keith: Georgia.

Nehemia: Georgia gets up, and she’s covered in dust, what does she do? She shakes herself the way only a dog can do, where the entire body, they’ve actually done this in slow motion, it’s something that… I love the image! She’s shaking the dust off, and then it’s, “Remove your collar, o puppy,” you know, “Take off the bonds from your neck,” this actually is the image of a dog, or possibly of an ox or something. Do ox’s shake themselves from the dust? I don’t actually know.

Keith: No.

Nehemia: So this is a dog. “Shake off the dust and take off your collar…”

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: And be free.

Keith: How long have dogs been around?

Nehemia: According to whom?

Keith: In the time of Isaiah would they be walking around the streets?

Nehemia: Oh, I mean, they definitely had dogs. We hear in Exodus, when the Israelites left Egypt, it says, “No dog wet his tongue,” and you have the image there of all these people moving, I know when somebody used to walk by my apartment, Georgia would go crazy barking, because your impinging on your… the dog perceives someone’s impinging on their territory, and the miracle or the honor that the dogs gave was that they didn’t bark at the Israelites when they left Egypt. So, dogs have been a part of culture in this part of the world for a long time.

Keith: Well, I am just going to be honest with you, I am going to make a confession. I’m waiting for a verse, and so I would like you, as long as you don’t touch my verse, you can talk about whatever you like.

Nehemia: Will you put down your BB gun? All right, verse 5.

Keith: And you can’t touch verse 6.

Nehemia: Verse 5 and 6 are connected.

Keith: No, what are you talking about?

Nehemia: So, let’s skip ahead to verse 5 and 6. Homework is to read verses 3 and 4. I may even skip to the end of the verse, just to focus on what I want to talk about. “Vetamid kol hayom shmi menoatz,” “And perpetually, continually all day, my name is despised.”

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: “Lachen yeda ami shmi”, “therefore My people will know My name,” “Lakhen bayom hahu”, therefore on that day, “ki ani hu hamedaber,” for I am he who speaks, “hineni” - behold it is Me.

Keith: So, do you have a comment about this? Because…

Nehemia: I actually talk about this verse in my book Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. It was a really important verse for me, because there is a Rabbinical discussion about this verse, that when I saw this, I’m like, “Wait, something’s wrong,” and it was a passage from the Midrash, which is writings of Rabbis, and this one is probably about 1,100-1,200 years old, the Midrash on Psalms, and they say as follows… Now, this from a time when it was forbidden to speak God’s name in Rabbinical tradition, there was a time when it was allowed in Rabbinical tradition, this is already well into the period where it’s forbidden, even to the point where the average Jew doesn’t even know what the name is. We’re actually told that it’s a secret whispered in the ear by rabbi to disciple once every seven years, but if you’re the average Jew on the street, the average Israelite, you don’t know the name of God. You know it’s “Yud Hei Vav Hei” but you don’t know the vowels, that becomes a secret. So, they say as follows, the rabbis, they say, “Why does Israel pray in this world, but not get answered?” And again, if you want the source, go look into Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence, I bring all the references, “because they do not know the Tetragrammaton or the shem hamefurash,” the name of God. “However, in the future world, the holy one, blessed be He, will inform them of His name, as it is written,” and it quotes our verse, Isaiah 52, “Therefore My people will know My name, at that time they will pray and be answered, as it written, He will call me and I will answer him.”

Which is a quote from Isaiah 52:6 and Psalm 91:15, and this is actually in a section Midrash on Psalms on… actually on 91:8, it appears. Now what’s interesting to me about this is that the very same rabbis who forbid us to speak His name, who are terrified by that name, they tell us, “In this world”, meaning in the period of exile before the Messiah comes and reigns king over Israel and brings world peace, “we will pray to God, and He won’t answer us because we don’t know His name.”

But when the Messiah comes and reigns over Israel, and then teaches us what his name is, God will tell us himself what His name is, then the Jews will pray and their prayers will be answered. I remember encountering this years before and thinking, “Wait a minute, why don’t we just pray in His name, if He’s not answering us because we’re not praying in His name?” And the verse where they got this from, one of the verses, is 1 Kings 8:33, where Solomon… we actually brought this when we did this section, I’m not going to even read it, go look it up, it talks about confessing God’s name when you have a problem in prayer. Go read that whole prayer in 1 Kings chapter 8, of the prayer of Solomon there.

So, this was a key verse for me in my walk, in my journey, especially wrestling with this issue of, on the one hand the tradition, and speaking the name, and I’ll be honest with you - I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this - there was a period when I knew that we were supposed to call on God’s name, and the issue wasn’t that I didn’t know how to pronounce it, there was a period when the issue was… that’s really terrifying. I’ve been taught that this is the worst blasphemy that could have ever be spoken, is to speak His name, what I know intellectually isn’t enough - I’m afraid. And it took me a number of years until finally, I said, “Okay, I’m ready to call His name, but now I’m not sure what it is, I’m not sure how to pronounce it,” and the rest is history.

Keith: Amen. Well, I have a story to tell you. You’ll notice the last few weeks I haven’t said much as far as testimony, but I have a real testimony that’s taken place as a result of being here, that’s really blessed me to the point that I just need to slow down and tell this story. So, 12-13 years ago, I’m sitting across the place where Yehovah set His name forever, and I asked Nehemia about this, and he says, do I have a piece of paper and pencil? If you haven’t heard this story, you can listen to the Open Door Series, you can go to the book His Hallowed Name Revealed Again, you’re going to hear about the whole story.

And for all these years, I have done what I call the process of trying to see it for myself, though I’ve heard it, I wanted to understand it for myself, I wanted to see it for myself, I wanted to really internalize it for myself, and I did. And so part of the process with this book His Hallowed Name Revealed Again was a way to not only share it, but to have other people come alongside and share with me. And so there was an early manuscript that people got a chance to comment on, et cetera, and then after that the book was there, and it has been in its third or fourth printing, it’s in an electronic version on iTunes, and there’s all this stuff, and we did the Open Door Series, and oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! And we did more research, oh wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! And oh boy, look, we went back and we went to the library and found more manuscripts, and Nehemia’s there, the Damascus and all… boy, wonderful this is great.

But I want to tell everyone something - I still struggled, because I knew that I knew based on what I had learned, as I could look in the manuscripts and I could see it, but I had a huge conflict. And the conflict was, “Why is it, or is it, that this is something that’s not known by my Orthodox brothers and sisters?” Nehemia kind of casually said something, he made a phrase about whether they knew if it was the vowels or not. One of the things that happened this week, we were at Shabbat at Nehemia’s mother’s house, the best Shabbat in all of Jerusalem, because she’s got family there and children there and it’s really a beautiful experience if you have never had a chance to be at a traditional Shabbat in someone’s home, it’s really, really beautiful.

Well, one of the things that happens is you go in the evening on Friday and you have Shabbat, and then, if you get invited, and I always love when we get invited to the second meal, the meal in the afternoon on Shabbat. Well, after Shabbat is over - and just bear with me, folks, because this is really important for me - after Shabbat is over, they start passing out books, and I know what time it is. We going to start singing, and we going to start praying, and they pass out the books, and so the little granddaughter, Nehemia’s niece, hands me one of the books, and she says, “Read along,” and I can read. And David, who happens to be a cantor, I believe he’s also a cantor, at one point he was showing me about the accents, how they’re sung and all that stuff, there’s another conversation, he begins to lead and everyone is reading.

Nehemia: That’s my brother-in-law.

Keith: Everyone’s reading in Bubbie Dina’s house, and it is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And every time we come across the name Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei, David says, Adonai, and everybody says, Adonai, it’s no secret, everybody says Adonai. But when I am reading, I see the shava under the Yud, I see the cholam between Hei and the Vav, I see the kametz under, which are the three vowels and the four consonants, and I am thinking to myself, “Okay, I’m looking at this, I know this is not Scripture, this is something they’re doing at the end of… this is in a prayer book...

Nehemia: It’s the grace after meal, the Birkat Hamazon.

Keith: They’re praying. They’re doing this thing, and I am reading it and finally, I say, “You know what? Enough is enough. I’ve got to have the chutzpah to do this.” After we’re done, I go up to David, and I have a relationship with him now, I consider us friends, and I went up to him and I said, “David,” and I’ve got to tell you something about Nehemia’s family that is hilarious - there is no such thing as having a conversation with one of them. If you speak to one of them, you’re speaking to everyone. So, I go to David, and I say, “David, I’m the foreigner.” David, Solomon said that with the foreigner, he prayed and he said the foreigner would come and he would raise his hands and he would pray toward this place, and he would speak and he knew Yehovah would answer. I said, “David, I’m not Jewish, I’m not interested in converting. I love the name Yehovah, but I’ve got an issue. I’m watching you lead everyone in this prayer, and you’re clearly reading, and you’ve come across the name Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei, four consonants, three vowels at least seven to ten times. What’s in your mind?”

Now at this point, it’s not a conversation between me and David anymore. Bubbie Dina’s over there and she’s perking up, and Meira, his wife, has come over and she’s perking up, the sister, and they come over and David says to me, “When I see that name, I know to say Adonai.” I said, “David, if it was okay, for you to actually say the name, how would you read it?”

Now, you guys have got to understand something - this is a different question, this is not a question about, does He have a name, how is His name pronounced. My question is this: as it is printed with the consonants and vowels, how would you read it? Would you know how to read it? He says, “No question I would know how to read it. In fact, I’d read it just the way it’s printed here.” Listen to this, he’s saying with those four consonants and those three vowels, he would read it - if you know how to read Hebrew - he would read it as it’s printed.

And then here comes Meira, because you don’t have one conversation with a Gordon. When you’re talking to the Gordons, you are talking to the whole family. And so, Bubbie Dina’s like, “Keith, I mean, of course, this is the situation,” and she starts talking. And then Meira comes and she says, “Keith, you have to understand…” and I get the chills. Can I talk? Is it okay?

Nehemia: Please, sure.

Keith: Nehemia, no, I literally have goosebumps...

Nehemia: Testify!

Keith: I have goosebumps, because she comes over, and her husband’s there, and the children are there. These are Orthodox people, can I say that?

Nehemia: Yeah, they’re Orthodox.

Keith: These are Orthodox Jewish people, and she says, “Keith, you do know that the name is based on the present tense vowel.” What, wait, wait…

Nehemia: Present tense verb.

Keith: At this point, you guys, I’m listening to David, who’s telling me, “Absolutely that’s the way we’d read it.” She comes over, she says it’s based on the present tense verb, and then she says the present tense verb, but then she doesn’t stop there. She says, “So His name is Yehovah,” and there was silence, because the husband is there and the wife is there and the grandma is there whose husband was a Rabbi, who has now passed on, and Nehemia is over in the corner with his head in his hands! We’ve just had the proclamation of the name Yehovah on Shabbat, in a house, and nobody in the room questions the pronunciation. I ran out of the room. Did I get excited, Nehemia?

Nehemia: You got up and walked out of the house.

Keith: I walked out of the house. And let me tell you why I got excited folks. Now, I’m sorry for my excitement. This has been thirteen years for me. There’s no question in my mind, based on manuscripts on what we have, and it’s my understanding as I have talked to many people, I’ve never even shared some of these stories. How many people have interacted about this, but what was so beautiful for me about this - this isn’t a matter of if there’s a pronunciation. This was a matter of Rabbinic rule. What they were saying is, “Look, we don’t pronounce it, but as it pertains to what you see there, Mr. Johnson, as you’re reading the Hebrew Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei, with those three vowels and four consonants, no question in our mind – this is how you pronounce it. You pronounce this way.” And she went so far as to say it, “Yehovah”. Now, there was a little bit of a tension.

Nehemia: What was the tension?

Keith: The tension was that everyone stopped, and was like, “Wait, you’re not supposed to say.” She says, “But to teach, I can teach, I can actually share this name,” and her husband said, “Well, not really.” But Grandma Bubbie Dina said, “No, you can do that.” And to make the long story short, and I want to say in sensitivity, it was a blessing, they’ve invited me to come back and talk to them, and I hope to do this - to talk to them and let them share about the significance of this, about the importance of this. But folks, all this argument about “Yewahu”, and Yahweh - all that stuff, that’s fine, that’s good, that’s fine; but for me, the blessing of it was one, to open the manuscript for myself, to read it for myself, to see it, even apart from Nehemia. Nehemia would say, “Keith, here are the keys, go drive the car.” And you know what? That’s what it’s been about - people getting a chance to get this information themselves. But I’m not a person that lives in Jerusalem, I don’t always get around people like this, and I would never just go up to some Orthodox Jewish rabbi and say, “Come on, tell me right now, is it Yaweh? Is it the Yeho...?” No, I would never do that. This was a process over years, where I could then go to him and say in humility, “Could you answer this question?” And he answered it with such confidence, and then of course Nehemia, he probably won’t confess this, he threw a little more fire on the blazing … What do you call it?

Nehemia: Inferno.

Keith: Inferno. So after it’s all said and done, and I’m having my holy ghost moment - yes, it was a holy ghost moment - Nehemia says to them, “So, when you hear the name Yaweh, what do you think?” He’s like, “Well, I’m not moved by it.” So I just have to say, that was a testimony for me...

Nehemia: Well he said, “Well that’s not it. I’ve heard people say that, but that’s not God’s name.”

Keith: And the point was that it was printed as Yehovah, his wife said it as Yehovah, he acknowledged that he understands what it is, he doesn’t pronounce it, but there was not a debate regarding the pronunciation. And like I said, just for me, it was a beautiful experience to actually be amongst people who do know it as a matter of fact. Nehemia, they do know it as a matter of fact.

Nehemia: I’ve never really questioned that, you know, I talk about how I discovered it. My issue was that I had been told by every scholar in the world, the top professors at Hebrew University, that your brother-in-law and your sister and everybody who thinks they know it’s Yehovah, they don’t know what they’re talking about because really those are the vowels of Adonai. For me the discovery was to encounter Yehovah actually in the Hebrew manuscript with that whole issue.

So, it wasn’t just, “This is how everybody who reads Hebrew, thinks it is,” I’ve got it in the Hebrew manuscripts, and my challenge to people is show me Yahweh in the Hebrew manuscripts, show me, Yahu’uhu. We actually came across some evidence that there’s stronger evidence that the name is Yuhuvuhu, no joke - I’ve said it as a joke before, but it turns out there’s stronger evidence for Yuhuvuhu than there is for Yaweh. That doesn’t mean it’s Yuhuvuhu, it’s still Yehovah, but...

Keith: Well anyway, I just have to say, again, I want to thank you for inviting me to actually not only do this with you here in Jerusalem, but to be here amongst the people, to be with people, to share with them, to be in a home during Shabbat, and again, I did that in sensitivity, and I think that they would say that was also done in sensitivity, but it was a really beautiful testimony, how amazing and how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news regarding His name.

Nehemia: Are you jumping to the next verse? Read verse 7.

Keith: Next verse. Yeah.

Nehemia: “Mah navu al heharim,” “How wonderful, how pleasant, beautiful, upon the mountains,” “raglei hamevaser,” “the feet of the one who brings the good news, the feet of the evangelist,” that’s the word. Now here, remember we had it in a different passage, and it was feminine, mevaseret? This is mevaser, this is the masculine, the bard, the evangelist, the guy spreading the good news.

“The feet of the one who brings good news,” “mashmiah shalom,” “who makes heard the peace,” “mevaser tov,” “who announces the good news.” And there you have mevaser, which actually could be bad news, but he added the word good, tov. “Mashmiyah yeshuah,” “Who makes heard, who makes known, Yeshuah, salvation,” “omer le Zion,” “he says to Zion,” “malach elokhaiekh,” “your king has reigned, has begun to reign, to rule as king,” it’s the verb of the word melekh.

This is a pretty cool passage. Now, I want to ask you this, we’ve got here this, mevaser, he’s coming, and telling Zion that the king has begun to reign - who is the king in this passage?

Keith: “And says to Zion, your god reigns,” he’s the king.

Nehemia: Yehovah is the king.

Keith: Your God, yeah.

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: You know, it’s interesting, we drive around Jerusalem, and you see this… I brought this up before, I don’t know why this hits me in such an interesting way, but where it will say, it’ll have the Hei, it’ll be for HaShem, the name, you know, He is King forever. I mean, that’s bumper sticker material.

Nehemia: Now we have to talk here about… we’ve got three things here that… we’ve got this evangelist, this mevaser, the one who brings the good news, we’ve got God as king, and in the same verse we have mashmiyah yeshuah, who makes heard. What do you have there for that?

Keith: Yes, it’s verse 7 says...

Nehemia: “Who announces salvation,” you have. And literally it’s mashmiyah yeshuah, he makes heard the yeshuah, the salvation. Now, we’ve talked about this before, how the name Yeshua is Yehovah yehoshia, Yehovah saves, and that’s different than this word that we see here, which is yeshuah. And you might say, “One’s Yeshuah and one’s Yeshua, that’s just the difference of emphasis.” It’s actually spelled differently in Hebrew. The words are obviously related, no question they’re related, but there’s actually a slightly different word. What you wouldn’t legitimately be able to say is, “Oh, the name Yeshua, Jesus, is in this verse,” because no, it’s the word yeshuah, salvation. But definitely, we’re talking about God’s salvation.

Keith: I love how Hebrew sounds, you know. Anyway, those two words together, “Who announces” and then “salvation”, you have the noun and you have this participle together, and I was actually thinking, you know before we saw moshiah, where you’d have a...

Nehemia: Can this be the Word of the Week - yeshuah?

Keith: Did we do this one before?

Nehemia: I don’t think we did.

Keith: Go ahead.

Nehemia: I think we did moshiah.

Keith: It’s a noun.

Nehemia: Moshiah is the participle and this is the abstract noun. Yeshuah is Yud-Shin-Vav-Ayin-Hei. And the three-letter root is Yud-Shin-Aiyn – salvation - Yud-Shin-Vav-Ayin-Hei is salvation. And I’ve talked to people, I said, “Do you know what the name Yeshua means?” They’ll say “his name means salvation.” That’s only a half-truth. Think about my name, Nehemia - its Yah comforts, Yeshua is Yehovah yehoshiah, Yehovah saves. The word yeshuah, this word here with the Hei at the end, it’s not the same as his name, actually, does mean salvation. It’s what we would call an abstract noun. And the word appears again in verse 10, yeshuat Eloheinu, it has that “at” at the end, the at replaces the “a” of the Hei, and it means “of”, just like you say, Torah is the Torah, but then you say Torat Moshe is the Torah of Moshe. That at replacing in the kamatz Hei means of. So yeshuat Eloheinu, the salvation of our God.

So, that is the Word of the Week - yeshuah, yeshuat, salvation, salvation.

Keith: Hopefully, folks, you understand exactly what Nehemia said because you’re applying this information. It really is powerful to be able to look at that word and to know what that word is, and not just to have heard from someone, “Did you know that his name is this…”? No, but you can actually look and see it for yourself.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: Now what do you want to do here, Nehemia? Because we...

Nehemia: I just want to take the last three words of verse 8, it says, “beshuv Yehovat Zion,” “when Yehovah returns to Zion” I love that. And I’ll be honest with you, there are Jews who will read this and say, “Wait a minute, God’s going to return? No, no, no, we’re waiting for the Messiah to come, but all of a sudden we’re talking about God returning?” And definitely, there is this concept in the Tanakh and in the Jewish thought…

Keith: I only have the NASB, and it doesn’t say that. It says, “restores”.

Nehemia: Oh, really? So it literally says in Hebrew…

Keith: And I’m looking at it, it says beshuv.

Nehemia: Beshuv, when…

Keith: Woah! I love that.

Nehemia: Beshuv is to return. When Yehovah returns to Zion. And what does yours have? How did you translate it?

Keith: No, it says when… In the NASB…

Nehemia: When the LORD restores Zion. Oh, so that would be behashiv Yehovah Zion.

Keith: Aha.

Nehemia: That would be the hif’il, this is the kal. Beshuv Yehovah Zion, when Yehovah returns to Zion. I wonder if there are any translations that have the correct reading there - what verse is this again?

Keith: This is 52:8, it would be great to find some...

Nehemia: Now I’m going to pull up these translations, now you’ve challenged me.

Keith: No, of course.

Nehemia: Okay, the JPS - the Jewish Publication Society says, “For every eye shall behold the LORD’s return to Zion,” “LORD’s” in capitol, Yehovah’s return to Zion.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: “For in plain sight they see the return of the LORD to Zion,” NRSV. NASB, which is the one you’re doing, “When the LORD restores Zion.” So, why was the NASB afraid…?

Keith: What about NIV?

Nehemia: I don’t know. But why was NASB afraid of Yehovah returning to Zion? I don’t know the answer to that. “When the LORD returns to Zion they will see it with their own eyes.” No problem in the NIV. Only NASB seems to have a problem with God returning to Zion.

Keith: Isn’t that interesting? What’s going on with that?

Nehemia: All right, well anyway, the Jewish understanding here is that the Skhina, we’ve talked about this - you know, they say in Christianity, the “Shekinah Glory”, or the Skhina, the indwelling of Yehovah’s spirit, of His name, in Jerusalem, has left, and it will return one day to Zion...

Keith: Amen!

Nehemia: …and at that time you will see the fire coming down from heaven and consuming the sacrifices, I don’t know what you’ll see, but you’ll know the Skhina has returned, and that’s what it’s talking about, Yehovah returning to Zion - everyone is going to see it.

Keith: And I’m going to tell you something - when that happens, there’s going to be a breaking forth of joy, there’s going to be shouting, there’s going to be, “Oh,” it says, “break forth, shout joyfully together you waste places of Jerusalem, for Yehovah,” here comes the word again, Nehemia…

Nehemia: He’s nehemia’d His people.

Keith: He’s nehemia’d His people, He comforts His people. “He’s redeemed Jerusalem.” And boy, what a great phrase - “Yehovah has bared His holy arm.” Wow. “In the sight of all the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. Everyone, depart, depart, go out from there…”

Nehemia: Go out from where?

Keith: “…touching nothing unclean. Go out of the midst of her, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of Yehovah.” And then - you know, we’ve got to have a minute at the end - “But you will not go out in haste, nor will you go out as fugitives, for Yehovah will go before you,” that reminds me of the angel, the pillar of cloud that went before the people.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: “And the God of Israel,” of course, it does, “will be your rear guard.” You know, we had a little conversation, can I bring in the conversation?

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: Is it all right? Because this is a little bit of a Ministry Minute. And if you’ve been listening to Prophet Pearls, can I get an Amen? Raise your arm, raise your hands, if you have been listening to Prophet Pearls. I see that hand, I see that hand, I see that hand. You’ve been listening for how many weeks? How many months? How many times? And Nehemia and I were going, we were eating… it started out with a bit of conflict - we were eating lunch together down in wherever we were...

Nehemia: Ben Yehuda.

Keith: And we ordered, and Nehemia, he picked the restaurant, of course then he also paid. He picked the restaurant for lunch, and we wanted to eat… what do you call them?

Nehemia: Schnitzel.

Keith: Shnitzel. And so, we have schnitzel, and I’m sitting there and I’m so excited, I ordered my schnitzel in Hebrew and I was all excited! You know, Nehemia, I was all excited.

Nehemia: Schnitzel, bevakasha.

Keith: Schnitzel, bevakasha. Im chips, please. Give me some chips. And so I went up to the restroom, and I came back and there’s the meals. And there’s Nehemia’s meal and there’s my meal. And Nehemia, I said, “Ani lo mevin. Lama?!” “Your schnitzel’s twice the size!” He had this chicken…

Nehemia: It was literally twice… I had a double portion and you had a single portion.

Keith: He had a double portion and I had a single portion. And I was jealous. And I thought to myself, “I don’t know what I’m going to do here, so I called the meltzarit…

Nehemia: The waitress.

Keith: And I had him come over and I said, “Look, look at this, this isn’t fair, what is going on here?”

Nehemia: And the manager came out, and he looked and he said, “Hu tzodek,” “he’s right,” and they gave him the double portion.

Keith: They gave me the double portion. I’m like Elijah, I just want a double portion. Look, I’m a little giddy, folks. But we were talking, we got done and we were talking, and we had this conversation about how long we’ve been working on this. And Nehemia, he’s the accountant, “Well, I figure it’s been three hours per episode…” and then he starts counting in his head...

Nehemia: 54 episodes, 150-plus hours.

Keith: And I’m thinking…

Nehemia: Plus actually doing it, so it’s over 200 hours.

Keith: Yeah, 200 hours, and as I said, I read through this three times, but really it is humbling. But folks, this has been a lot of work, it really has been a lot of work, and one of the things he brought up that I really appreciated, he said, “You know, we decided we’re going to make this available to everyone.” No one has to register. No one has to pay, no one has to do anything, and I’m sure, some of you are like, “Here comes the Ministry Minute, they’re going to talk again about that they want some…” And you know what? I fell under, Nehemia…

Nehemia: You fell under conviction?

Keith: No, I just got some chutzpah.

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: Because I thought to myself, “So, what are we doing? We’re basically bringing everything that we have to the table and making it available to people,” and I know there are a whole lot of people listening right now there are not a part of the Premium Content Library. I know there are a whole lot of people that are not a part of your Support Team. But I know those people also get to reap the benefits of what we’re doing, and you know what I want to ask people to do? I literally I want to ask people and do this - at the end of the show, I want you to go to Nehemiaswall.com or to Makor Hebrew Foundation, or to make a phone call, I want you to give the specific information on this recording, and I want you to support what Nehemia is doing. And I’m not saying just pray about it, no - I want to be really clear, I want you to call up and say to Deb, who’s the person who is in charge there, “Listen, how can I bless the ministry?”

And you know what? I can say with a clear conscience as we’re rolling toward the end of this, this has not been an easy thing. This has been a labor of love; it has been a true labor of love. And I don’t want you to say it, I’ll say it for myself - then after you get done doing that, I want you to give the double portion to the BFA, and whatever you give to Nehemia, I need the double schnitzel. I need you to call up Karen on the phone, I need you to go to BFAinternational.com, and I’m telling you, I need you on the wall! I want you on the wall! No, it’s amazing, and I can say this was fun – Nehemia and I taunt each other back and forth, because we really have not done this before, we have not really ventured out and said we need those supporters, and we really do - we really do need those supporters. There are some things we’re talking about even now, we don’t know how it’s all going to work, but what we have done up to this point I feel good about, what we are doing I feel good about, and I really want to challenge you, we’ve got a few more left, we’ve got about five or six of these left - each week, would you do me a favor? Contact the Makor Hebrew Foundation, contact the BFAinternarnational.com, become a member of Premium Content, that’s going to help us to produce more, do more. If you can’t do that, make a one-time donation, whatever you do. But that’s sort of my way of saying I kind of want to see people respond. I really do, Nehemia. I want to see people responding, because I think, people do appreciate what we have done.

Nehemia: And you know, what we were talking about in the conversation is how each of us, what we have out there, is probably hundreds of hours…

Keith: Hundreds.

Nehemia: Of material for free, no commitment, nothing. And you know, you’ve got the Premium Content Library, I’ve got the Support Team, and at least for me, that’s for people who support the ministry, and it’s those people that allow me to put the other information out for free. If it weren’t for those people, there wouldn’t be hundreds of hours of stuff for free.

Keith: No free airplane rides.

Nehemia: No.

Keith: Even where we’re at right now is costing.

Nehemia: I mean we are sitting here in a safe house, and we’ve made fun of it, you’ve made fun of it. This had to be paid for...

Keith: Absolutely, it’s coming out of my end of the deal, what are you talking about? He keeps the pennies, he lets me know… look, he asks me to give the tip, he says, “You can pay the tip.” He’s paying for lunch and I’m paying for the tip - I never heard of such a thing. No, because you can’t put it on the card, am I right?

Nehemia: In Israel they don’t let you do that, yeah. I have to put it on the credit card, and that credit card has to be paid off.

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: So, the ministry credit card. So, yeah. And one more thing I do want to ask people out there, you know, whatever - if you can’t give a penny, please pray for us, because we need help. We have some things planned in the future, Keith and his ministry and me in my ministry, and then some joint projects, and for those things to be successful takes not only resources, it takes the good grace of Yehovah, and so please pray for us to have the protection, for us to have the strength, for us to have the fortitude to plow forward, and do this despite the nay-sayers, despite all the negativity, despite the entire websites dedicated to bashing us. [laughing] Please pray for us. That’s really what we need - is your prayers.

Keith: And you know, I just would so much like to end on a spiritual note, Nehemia, but I’m just not going to do it. You know, you’re going to have to pray, and I am going to tell you why. Here’s the deal, folks, I want to be clear again, I want to be really clear again. Can I say this?

Nehemia: I don’t know.

Keith: We actually need their help.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: You know, we have this Ministry Minutes and we’re trying to be really nice about it, but I can say based on where we’re at right now, and this is August, in terms of what we are trying to do, to provide people as at the end of this Prophet Pearls portions, this cycle, there are some pretty amazing thing that are going to be coming, and we really do need your help. So, please, please, please, take this seriously, go to both ministries and do what you can to help us so we can continue to do what we believe we’re called to do, and that’s to give people the chance to have the interaction with the word of God.

Nehemia: I want to end with a bonus. Can we end with the bonus?

Keith: Wonderful. Yes.

Nehemia: Isaiah 53. And we’re not getting the whole section, we don’t have time, but I want to only say two things. One is I want to share what I’ve learned in my research about Isaiah 53, and maybe one day we’ll do a special about this, but I’m just going to give a little taste here. I don’t see how we can do it, how we can do it without Isaiah 53…

Keith: I’ll tell you what. Let’s have them go and make the donations, and then you do Isaiah. [laughing] I’m just kidding.

Nehemia: So, if we were having a debate, and I had to win the debate or I’d get persecuted - this is how it was in Jewish history - I would say this is referring to Israel. And no matter what you did, no matter what stops you pulled, the verses and the Septuagint, whatever you pulled, you’d be wanting to say “this is Jesus Christ” and I’d be wanting to say “this is Israel”. And that would be the dialogue of the debate, and really, if there was any opening for this not to be Jesus, you wouldn’t share that, you wouldn’t be able to, and if there was any opening for this not to be Israel we wouldn’t be having the conversation.

But here’s the interesting thing - in Jewish sources, outside the debate, just searching for truth, I found four distinct interpretations of this passage, Isaiah 53. Number 1, of course, is Israel, and that probably is the most widespread interpretation, but I also found Jewish sources - when I say Jewish, I mean real Jewish, not Messianic - I found Jews who said, “Yes, this is referring to the Messiah, possibly the Messiah of the house of Joseph, who gets killed.”

Keith: The whole chapter, or the verses?

Nehemia: The whole chapter. The whole 53. And actually, even the closing verses of 52. In other words, in the Jewish understanding, I think even in the Christian understanding, this starts in 52:13 and goes to 53:12. That’s a single unit of prophecy, or a single theme.

So, we’ve got Israel, the Messiah of the House of Joseph. Number 3 is the righteous among Israel, meaning a subset among Israel, who suffers for the rest of Israel, and number 4, really interesting to me, is it refers to a specific historical figure in the past, who is usually identified as Jeremiah, [laughing] it’s really interesting. And there are Jews who have written whole commentaries on this chapter and argued word by word, verse by verse, how this is referring to Jeremiah, how it’s referring to a subgroup within Israel, how it is referring to Messiah of the House of Joseph, how it’s referring to all of Israel, and all of those have been legitimate interpretations in Jewish history. You won’t hear that in the debate, or maybe you’ll hear it from the Christian side, and then the Christians will say, “Well, this proves it’s Jesus,” well, I mean, it doesn’t prove that one way or the other.

Here’s what it really proves - this is a really difficult passage, and I did this a few years back. I had a friend who was a Messianic Rabbi, and he asked me, “Nehemia would you teach me this passage in the original Hebrew?” And I really debated and struggled with this, because people out here say, “Nehemia, what he does, He takes people to the back room and convinces them why not to believe in Yeshua,” and I said, “I’ll do this only on the condition that we make it very clear - you don’t try to convince me (this wasn’t Keith), you don’t try to convince me to believe in Jesus from this passage and I won’t try to convince you not to. We’ll just read it as honestly as we can from the Hebrew.

And what we found is that there are whole verses here, whole phrases definitely, where it’s not entirely clear what the Hebrew means. Now, if you’re trying to have a debate with someone, you can’t admit that; you have to say, “I know what everything means. Here is what this means, and here’s what that means.” Yeah, you can force a meaning on it, but if you would be totally honest, and you had no background of what this is supposed to refer to, whether it was supposed to refer to Israel, or supposed to refer to the Messiah, or even to Jeremiah, or a subgroup of Israel, you’d read this as a Hebrew reader and you’d read a passage, or certain phrases, at least, and you’d be like, “I have no idea what that means.” That’s the honest truth.

One verse which is really clear, and I think everybody agrees on, maybe not everybody, but all the sources I have interacted with, they all agree that Isaiah 53:12 is a prophecy for the future which has not been fulfilled. And why is that? Let me read you the King James Version, “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

And the way it is understood by most sources, the ones that I’ve interacted with, is that this is a promise for the future, that this figure, whether he is Jeremiah, whether he is the Messiah, whether he is Israel, whether he is a subgroup in Israel, in the end times, when everything is set right, then the enemies will be defeated, and the spoils - spoils is this military term, you defeat the enemy and you take the spoils - he’s going to divide up the spoils among the many. NIV, “Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong,” who are these strong? I guess the people who sided with whoever the figure is in Isaiah 53, “and was numbered with the transgressors, for he bore the sin of many, and made,” this is the NIV, remember, “and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Let me read you read you the JPS, the Jewish Publications Society translation.

Keith: Can I read it?

Nehemia: Sure, please.

Keith: “Assuredly, I will give him the many as his portion. He shall receive the multitude as his spoil for he exposed himself to death and was numbered among the sinners, whereas he bore the guilt of the many and made intercession for sinners”.

Nehemia: Yeah. Okay. So I want to focus on common ground, that is what I’ve always talked about. Not always, but that’s what we try to focus on, is the common ground. And certainly, in the last number of years, the last 10 or 15 years, I’ve been all about the common ground, and the common ground we have here is that this is a figure that will happen in the future, whether it’s a figure who has been and will be back or it’s a figure who will be entirely in the future, and he’ll complete the ministry, the mission, in verse 12 of Isaiah 53.

I don’t know how somebody could argue… And I’ve actually spoken to one Christian from China, who had never met a Jew before, and he was convinced, “No, this has already been fulfilled.” All right, whatever. I don’t know how you can say, “I will divide the spoil among the many, or even the many as the spoils,” it seems to me to refer to the end times war. Anyway, long story short, I really think that we should focus on the common ground, and if the one who divides the spoil, whether in the future it’s the returning Jeremiah, or whether it’s the Messiah of the House of Joseph, or whether it’s the Messiah of the House of David, we will all see that and we’ll see, “Wow, the prophet spoke the truth,” when it happens. And can I end with a prayer about that?

Keith: Before you end with a prayer, I think, one of the things that I’ve always appreciated is when we do look at the passage like this, and like you say, this is a bonus section - you look at a passage like this, I’ve really been discouraged by the debates, to be honest, because I do think there’s this idea that says we can’t give an inch, because if we give an inch they’ll take a mile. But what I hear you saying, and I just want to say this just to be clear, that there are some parts of this passage, there are some parts of Isaiah 53 where you wouldn’t necessarily go on and say, “I know a hundred per cent, this is what it is by language, history, and context. There’s a room for interpretation, and I think that room for interpretation gives room for people in their journey, and for people even in their places of faith, that they can find out where there’s connection and when there isn’t, and when there isn’t they can say there’s not, but when there is, they can ride that horse until... you know. [laughing]

Nehemia: And I think here’s another thing you can say about this figure in Isaiah 53, whether it is Israel or whether it is the Messiah, or whether it’s a subgroup of Israel, you know – the four interpretations, that he starts out, or they start out, things don’t go too well. [laughing] That’s an understatement, I know for some interpretations, but no matter what your interpretation, there is a lot of suffering to begin with, and in the end there’s victory, and that is verse 12, the victory, and that really, as someone whose kind of been the underdog myself, that gives me hope that there will be this image of victory in the end. You know, things will start out really bad, this is a person, he’ll be sick, he’ll be suffering based on certain readings of it, he’ll be rejected, but in the end there will be victory and dividing up the spoils of the many, or among the many, that gives me hope.

So, I started out saying the rabbis skipped this portion because it didn’t give them comfort, and I think that’s too bad, because I think that one can find a lot of comfort in this passage. It ends on a happy note, and the happy note is dividing up the spoils among the many; and may that be soon. So, I’m going to end in prayer.

Yehovah malkeinu, Yehovah our king, Yehovah, I pray that You reveal Your holy arm, Your strength, before the eyes of all the nations. Yehovah I pray the yeshuat Eloheinu, the yeshua of our God, the salvation of our God be seen, to the ends of the Earth, Yehovah. I pray that You will wake Your people, and You wake all those who deep in their heart yearn for God, whether they understand You or don’t understand You, whether they know Your name or don’t know Your name, that You will awaken them and they arise and they shake off the dust of tradition and they take off the collar of man-made religion, and they come towards You, they return like a dog to his owner, and they come to You, and they embrace You, Yehovah, and they call upon Your name, and they love Your name, and they love Your Torah, Yehovah. I pray that they hear the good news of Your salvation, and they hear that Yehovah has returned to Zion. Your God has begun to reign as king, may this be soon, amen.

Keith: 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.

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  • Kelly says:

    Shalom! When God says, do not touch any unclean thing, does that mean our pets, and wildlife and unbelievers and things like that? Thank you! Y’all are wonderful, may Yah bless you both

  • Raoul from Amsterdam says:

    I remember when i was in Surinam years ago, where my parents come from, i thought i had bought Nike socks…but it said Mike……
    Did you know ( part of) Surinam was planned to be the 1st Jewish state?
    There is still a area there that is called the Jewish Savannah.

    Thank you for the Torah and Prophet pearls. All glory to YEHOVAH

  • Satah says:

    Sheep can also shake themselves like a dog does and often do when they stand up from resting or if there is rain.

  • Anonymous says:

    Keith actually only got a two-thirds portion of Nehemia’s schnitzel (2 Kin 2:9). Lol

  • JohnPaul says:

    In the HalleluYah Scriptures
    Yeshayahu 52:8 the voice of your watchmen! They shall lift up their voices, together they shout for joy, because eye to eye they see the return of YHVH to Tsiyon.

  • Love this!!! I can testify to the fact that since I have proclaimed His name publicly & included it in my prayers that miracles happen & I have seen answers. It has made a believer out of me that this Name is a Name that is above all names & there is super natural power in His name. He has shown me beyond a shadow of a doubt that His name is important to Him. & on a side note on the Christian side of things for me I believe that the reason The Son’s name is important is because His name incorporates The Father’s name & shows the ehad/oneness of The Father & The Son. To call Him by that J name covertly blots out the Father from the Son. That is my opinion, though.

  • elisia lopez says:

    Thank you, both for your wonderful works.

  • Luanne says:

    Dear Nehemia. Thank-you sooooo much for the teaching. I just enjoy it so much. Bless you.

    Isaiah 51:14 = very interesting verse. The minute you read it and the word “bread” was mentioned, the Holy Spirit led me to Verse John 6:51 “Yeshua is the living bread”.
    I looked up different translations and oh my hat, they can differ. Note, I read the NKJV.

    Basically I got two things that the Spirit showed me :

    1. The actual living bread that was fed in the prisons. The sustenance for living.
    2. That Yeshua is the living bread that would feed all and it shall “not fail”.
    John 4:7 – 10 also popped into my mind.

    To add, could this verse possibly be only talking about Israel or/and perhaps also could this verse be talking of the Messiah? For me, there is huge Spiritual significance here.

    Shalom
    Luanne

  • Carol Neal says:

    I appreciate the hard work, time, & money that you & Kieth have given free to make Prophet Pearls & Torah pearls available at no cost!!!! Thank you both so much! And Todah Yahovah!

  • donald murphy says:

    why quote the so called new testament? are we not commanded not to learn the ways of the heathen?

    • Robert Kennedy says:

      Jeremiah 10:2 “Do not learn the way of the nations or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are dismayed at them” NAOB

      In this context, it is decidedly an indictment against practicing astrology, idolatry and allowing such practices to make one fearful. I would venture to comment that the teachings of the New Testament are congruent with the teaching of Jeremiah 10:2-6.

      With that said, is it okay to have an intellectual understanding of another person’s beliefs, if those beliefs are in contrast to your perception of what is True? That is, so that you may present your apologetic in a coherent and logical manner?

  • Daniel says:

    Homework: Isaiah 51:14

    Although I see the importance of establishing the present tense in context of the verse in question — In order to avoid extreme misconception — I am always looking for the deeper universal application (After all, this is deemed prophetic and has purpose).

    It would appear that YHVH uses examples of our past (Scriptural History), to reveal a deeper intent — To learn from our mistakes.

    I could not avoid seeing “resurrection” in this choice of words.

    Sure, “exile” and “dungeon”, although somewhat opposites, imply a metaphoric states of “loss of freedom” or at least the “loss of animated interaction” — “Death”.

    My take on this particular verse, in the midst of the context, is that it is implying a resurrected state, not only for the “individual(s)” in question, but to those awaiting to be set free, as well — Which emboldens my interpretation and understanding of the greater context — The Messianic Promise.

  • Robert K says:

    Shalom,
    Nehemia brought up a very good point about Ezekiel 44:9 (parallel to Isaiah 52:1), which relates to how other faith traditions may view and reconcile these scriptures with an individual’s belief system.

    Ezekiel 44:9 reads, “Thus saith the Lord GOD: No alien, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary, even any alien that is among the children of Israel.” (JPS)

    To compare and contrast, Ezekiel 44:9 is specific to YHVH’s physical sanctuary, while Isaiah 52:1 is specific to the city of Jerusalem. Also, without personally knowing the intent of the original language, the verse in Isaiah seems to read like a promise, while the verse in Ezekiel reads like an ordinance.

    To get a better sense of context, I went back a few chapters to see that this section of Ezekiel, beginning in Chapter 40, is part of a vision Ezekiel received while in exile. The vision pertains to the House of Israel and specifically the Temple. In this vision, every detail of the Temple is described and measured by a man with a radiant appearance.

    Chapter 43 illustrates a most awesome promise regarding the east facing gate of the Temple Mount complex (i.e., the presence of YHVH approaching from the east and entering and filling the Temple). Furthermore, we are also promised that YHVH will dwell among the people of Israel forever and the people of Israel will no longer defile YHVH’s holy name, an action which facilitated the destruction of the first temple (vs 7-9). In verse 10, we see a shift to the responsibilities of the people of Israel in this covenant, with the command to obtain measurements and learn through self reflection. It is interesting to note that the concept of measuring the Temple is also mentioned in Revelation 11:1-3, though the outer courtyard was excluded in the measurement due to it being downtrodden by the Gentiles.

    The ordinances continue in Chapter 44, specifically regarding the east facing gate, that it must remain shut because the presence of YHVH has entered there and only the prince is allowed to enter and leave by this gate and eat bread before YHVH. Is this “prince” a reference to the Messiah, the root and descendant of David?

    The overwhelming question in my mind is whether Ezekiel is receiving a vision of a Millennial covenant/promise, and how this would relate to a New Testament covenant. My thought is that it must be Millennial, since the second temple was also destroyed in 70 CE, and in our modern time the surrounding area (i.e., the city of Jerusalem) is trodden by all kinds of Gentiles. If this relates to a covenant with the Church, then the concept of a physical circumcision would not be applied in the same way. This notion would then require further discussion about where this promise places the Church during the Millennial period.

    Additionally, I think having a comprehensive study regarding the Temple and the holy city, where Nehemia and Keith could both share their interpretations and key points, would be very helpful and informative.

    • Sherri Rogers says:

      Yes. The “church” teaches that only circumcision of the heart is necessary. Jer 4:4; 9:25,26; Ez. 44:7,9 = physical circumcision + heart.

    • donald murphy says:

      THis is proof we aren’t going to heaven when we die.

  • Robert K says:

    The Homework Challenge – Isaiah 51:14

    The Tanakh (JPS) – “Quickly the crouching one is freed; he is not cut down and slain, And he shall not want for food.”

    In the previous verses, one is rebuked for fearing “The Man” a.k.a. the “oppressor”, who is mortal, and for forgetting “The Lord your Maker”, who is eternal and powerful (vs 12-13)

    Given the historical context (8th and 7th Century BCE), the “oppressed” or “exiled” refers to Israel while the “oppressor” refers to Assyria (explicitly stated in 52:1-5)

    After reading the full chapter, the first question that comes to mind – Does the “oppressor” refer not just to the captors in the Assyrian Captivity? Also, does the passage foreshadow the later Babylonian Captivity? (51:19-20 and 52:11-12)

    Furthermore, as a promise, the ultimate fate of the “oppressor” seems clear as stated in 51:7-8, 23

    Certainly, the promise in Isaiah 51:14 could be applied to any and all who find themselves oppressed, whether by a government, an organization, or just another person. Yet, these chapters in Isaiah are also filled with Millennial and Messianic Promise (51:1-6; 52:7-10,13-15) . . .

  • Kyle14Ani says:

    Is 53; why not both? Both Israel the nation and Messia of Israel/ And can be future from Isaish time, as Yeshua Ben Joseph and again, resurrection of dead, Yeshua ben David.

  • Laurie says:

    Reading Yeshayahu 51:14. I had to read the whole chapter. My thoughts on this. Yehovah is addressing those who pursue justice, those who know justice, who have the Torah written in their hearts. I personally think this is comforting. We are not to fear man. Nor are we to put our trust and faith in man. Man’s ways are oppressive. Yehovah rescues us and we will have everlasting life. Our Messiah will save us and comfort us. Don’t fear man.

  • Simon says:

    Was and is the Messiah ment to be a final atonement martyr for the sins of all humans past and present. And was non jews ment to believe that

  • Yiskah Rose says:

    Hi Nehemia,

    Thank you for all of your work on Prophet Pearls. I have a question that I would like to get your input on, if you have time (whether in writing or audio).

    I’ve been meditating on Isaiah 53 and have been wondering in particular about verses 9 & 10. I’ve looked a little at the Hebrew myself, but would really like to know more about the Hebrew behind these verses to get a better sense of what is being spoken about here and what these verses really mean. It would be great if you have time to address translation here and shed some more light.

    One translation of this reads as follows:
    “And they made his grave with the wicked –
    But with the rich at his death,
    Because he had done no violence,
    Nor was any deceit in his mouth.
    Yet it pleased YHVH to bruise him;
    He has put him to grief.
    When You make his soul an offering for sin,
    He shall see his seed, He shall prolong his days,
    And the pleasure of YHVH shall prosper in his hand.” (Isa 53:9-10)

    Thank you!

  • Ken says:

    I vote for pearls from Hebrew Matthew

  • Mina says:

    I recognize why you tiptoe around Isaiah 53 , out of respect for those who may not agree with your understanding. But I wish you would go over it. I’ve heard and read two lessons going over it verse by verse, and it’s become my understanding that the servant was promised by YHWH that he would have ‘long life in v 10 (ya’arich yamim) or prolonged life, and see seed (zera) or offspring as its also translated. It’s my understanding that metaphoric i.e spiritual children would be expressed by the Hebrew word ben.

  • Benyahmeen says:

    Thanks Nehemia… Our Homework! Isaiah 51:14

    The context of this passage is carried over from Isaiah 51:4 : listen to me my people O my nation (the returning nation under Messiah) for law will proceed from me and I will make my justice rest. Continuing to Isaiah 51:11 so the ransomed of Yehovah shall return and come to Zion singing….. then forwarding to Isaiah 51 13 And your forget Yehovah your maker….you feared continually every day because the fury of the oppressor ….. Isaiah 51:14 The captive exile hastens that he may be loosed; and not die in the pit and his bread shall not fail…. Isaiah 51:15 For Yehovah divided the sea whose waves roared, ( t his was a reminder to the reader of the exile from Egypt) Yehovah of Host is his name.
    The above passage refers to “the nation” that returns… As I stated before those united under Messiah not the prophecies of “nations” later flowing to Israel. The above questioned passage also stipulates the conditions of the people are in “those that follow righteousness”.
    As a believer in Y’shua as Messiah I am charged to look to the rock from which I am hewn and from the hole of the pit from which I was dug Isaiah 51:1
    Secondarily, I am to hasten as a captive exile…. Hastening my release that I may not die in the pit. Isaiah 51:4
    Believers thoughts should immediately be reminded of the passage in Revelation 18:2 Babylon the great is fallen is fallen and has become a dwelling place for demons,a prison, ( a pit in ancient Israel) for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and detestable bird… Then continuing to Revelation 18:4 Come out of her my people lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.
    Lastly all of psalms 124 should come to rememberce but focusing chiefly on verse 7…. “Our soul is escaped as a bid from the snare of the fowlers”

    In my opinion.. The above passages should be a passageway of rejoicing to those
    “who follow after righteousness”.

    Just a quick question to the trio of Torah Pearls… Which of you love or like to swim and do any of you scuba dive… Or ever tried… Or ever care to?

    Thanks,
    Benyahmeen

  • Raimund says:

    Thanks for the teaching. I also like the painting by Mara Hofmann. While looking on the picture in the lower dark section, these yellow particles remind me of the pearls still to be discovered and digged out of the deep.

  • Carol nakabuye says:

    Guys may Yehovah bless and keep u coz am on fire can’t stop listening to you ,it’s like am coming out of a grave with south thirst

  • Reyes Nava says:

    Homework on Isaiah 51:14, regarding the word “exile” (Tsa`ah)
    The Hebrew Lexicon gives the meaning as “to stoop, bend, incline “.
    Several translations leave out the meaning but some include it.

    (NASB) “The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon,
    nor will his bread be lacking.

    (NKJV)The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, That he should not
    die in the pit, And that his bread should not fail.

    (BBE) The prisoner, bent under his chain, will quickly be made free,
    and will not go down into the underworld, and his bread will not come to an end.

    (DBY) He that is bowed down shall speedily be loosed, and he shall not die
    in the pit, nor shall his bread fail.

    The same word is also translated as “lain down” in Jeremiah 2:20
    and “tip over” in Jeremiah 48:12, also weirdly translated as “marching”
    in Isaiah 63:1.

    • Robert K says:

      Yes, and in the New Oxford Annotated the word “oppressed” is used and “Pit” is used to refer to Sheol.

      Also, The Tanakh (JPS) reads, “Quickly the crouching one is freed; he is not cut down and slain, And he shall not want for food.”

  • Ralf Meister says:

    A nice teaching again.
    Concerning the orthodox Jewish bible authored by none Jews, I ask again: Nehemia, please write your own translation of the bible so we may have all your wonderful teachings in one book.
    Concerning Isaiah 53: I can easily see a lot of spoil being divided after Yeshua’s ascends. The book of acts is full of miracles. But I also know there will be a lot more spoil when HE returns. ?
    It is similar to the abomination of desolation spoken of in Daniel. It happened once in the days of the Maccabees and will happen again in a much larger and final event in the days of the Antichrist.

  • YoAv says:

    What wasn’t mentioned about Isaiah 53, is the divinity of the Messiah / Israel / Jeremiah / righteous segment. I would say that this is the poignant difference in perspectives.

  • Regarding Ez 44:9. Just as a point of reference my faith includes Yeshua as The Messiah through Isaiah 56…

    First, I have a hard time with the translation of the word foreigner. It doesn’t make much sense to me in relationship to the sons of Israel. Are there any other possibilities?

    Second, this to me is an extension of the New Covenant referred to in Jer 31 where God will place His Word (Law) in our hearts (thus, the circumcision of the heart.) A clear indication of the Messianic Age.

    Third, the requirement to be circumcised in the flesh reminds me of the first exodus where the children of the rebellious parents (in which I relate) where not circumcised while in the wilderness. But just as God had a plan to correct this once they made it to the promised land (Joshua 5:3), so He will do for me (God willing.) Because of this, I am not as concerned as some regarding myself getting circumcised in the near future. It is not as if I will ever be allowed in the Temple before The Messiah takes charge anyway!

    Circumcision of the heart and flesh will be required. Praise YAH!

  • Nicholas Mansfield says:

    Gideons Bible version of Isa.52
    …free yourself from the bonds about your neck, captive daughter…
    (ie. She is in chains.)
    …therefore My people must learn My name, yes, on that day, they must learn that it is I who speaks; it is I…
    …for eye to eye they gaze at the return of [YHWH] to Zion.

  • Sharri Mueller says:

    Nehemia and Keith
    A Sephardic Jew from Moracco, Michael Esses, wrote a book, ‘Michael, Michael’, that a friend of mine edited. Another friend knew him personally and heard this from him directly.

    In the Sephardic tradition the reading for Haftarah Re’eh was Isiah 52:13-54:10. The family moved to the U.S. and lived in an Ashkenazi area. He was amazed that in the Ashkenazi tradition they started the reading with 54:11 rather than 52:13. All of the Haftarah’s of ‘Comfort’ have between 22 and 32 verses except for Re’eh with only 9 verses. The Sephardic reading is 25 verses.

    Surely, Isaiah 52:13-53:12 should bring comfort to the people. There may be another reason why these verses were omitted other than the current teaching. I leave it to you to consider and research.

    Thank you both for all you do. You are truly a blessing.

    Sharri

    • Hi Shari, I double-checked and there are no Jewish communities that read Isaiah 53 for the Haftarah not even the Jews of Morocco. It has nothing to do with Ashkenazim.

  • kris says:

    Personally, It is immensely comforting to me that there is one to bear my sin and intercede for me. Couldn’t live without it.

  • Sharon Fahey says:

    I’m serious when I say, thank you Kieth for reminding us about support. You know, today its so easy to put the Kingdom needs on this earth, especially at this time, aside to deal with all the things that keep coming at us. Maybe that’s exactly why we are getting bombarded, its a great distraction that urges us to react to all that’s happening. I’m serious, no matter what, I’m going to step up and be more financially supportive of the only things that that even makes sense anymore, the teaching of Torah and those who make it possible to learn it, Kieth and Nehemia. Don’t back off kieth, we all need to get a sense of the urgency were facing today. This isn’t just some nice little bible study, this is the difference between life and death.
    Shalom in the Name of Yehovah!

  • Cosmin says:

    I belive in Yeshua and I want to follow Torah. I have read Ezekiel 44 and Isaiah 52:1 and I would like to circumcise me and my two boys. So I am studying the method of circumcision: brit milah vs brit periah. I would appreciate if you would point me to some material or just give me your understanding regarding the method of circumcision and how much do we need to cut according to the Torah and the ancient biblical times practice. Thank you!

    • Please tell me your not planning on doing the circumcision yourself…

      • Cosmin says:

        Not technically. I have a friend that is a medic. I will talk to him.

        • I think you would be better off having a trained professional such as a Doctor or a Rabbi do it. I know that a Rabbi circumcised my brother and he did it for free despite the fact that we were not Jewish. I have trained as a CNA and have friends who were CNAs. I am a woman so I have no experience with owning one, but as a CNA I have to say it is one of the the last places you want an infection.

          • Cosmin says:

            Locally the Jewish community do not have a person for the circumcisions, now. They also appeal to a medic.
            From my research only brit milah is required by Torah. Brit Periah is latter added by the rabbis and not even observed my karaite Jews.
            My medic friend would follow the instructions I give him. I want the circumcision to be according to the Scriptures and accepted when the Temple would be rebuild.

  • Sharon Fahey says:

    Other than the things written about yeshua, the one prophet that suffered terribly was Jeremiah. I love Jeremiah, he had a deep love for Yahovah and his people, even though they treated him so bad. Then to have his eyes poked out, left in a deep pit and so much more. Yep, I think it was Jeremiah in this passage.

  • Crystal says:

    I think they are more interested in fooling Christians that are interested in learning and being closer to the original Hebrew than trying to suck Jews into Christianity. I have grown up in Messianic Christian beliefs and I find most times when I hear Jews claim that people are trying to suck them into Messianic beliefs, the Christians are usually just trying to get more into the Hebrew version than they are trying to convert anyone else.

  • james says:

    Unrelated: But you guys SHOULD definitely do Proverb Pearls.
    I would listen to that.

  • kaylened says:

    Regarding Ezekiel 44:9, the uncircumcised is referring to the heart:

    Leviticus 26:41
    “which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies–then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin”

    Circumcision, as all the physical signs of covenant, is a shadow of the Spiritual meaning. The physically Uncircumcised could not enter YHVH’s physical sanctuary.

    Uncircumcised hearts will not enter YHVH’s Spiritual Sanctuary. Only those with a humble heart will see YHVH. Psalm 69:32; Matthew 5:8; Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; Colossians 3:11; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Romans 2:29

    • Sharon fahey says:

      How can physical circuit.vision be a shadow of a spiritual circumcision if the physical circumcision is still in effect? I do agree both have to be to be accomplished at some point. And have to satisfy Yehovah. The fruit of both will be following Torah, keeping Shabbat and the things that matter .most to Yehovah, not to man.

  • Miri Burgin says:

    that would be repeat the verse number you are on more frequently 🙂

  • Miri Burgin says:

    Thanks, guys,it was great! However, it seemed that Nehemiah was not as loud as Keith, maybe you can adjust the sound, or else maybe you were different distances from the mic? Also, y’all were so fired up and excited, you were going a mile a minute, so I will have to listen to it again! It would be helpful if you would repeat the verses you are on more frequently during the discussion.
    My question is about the verse 53:5 or should be 53:8 if 53 actually starts at 52:13 like it should be, according to the scroll… People are always saying “…by his stripes we are healed…” but my translation says”… by his injury we are healed…” However, the Hebrew there is chavrato, ( sorry, don’t have Hebrew), doesn’t that mean “friendship”? Or what does it mean? I have the Koren Publishers Hebrew/English Scriptures, English text revised and edited by Harold Fisch.
    Keith, lighten up on the fund raising.