Prophet Pearls #45 – Va’etchanan (Isaiah 40:1-26)

In this episode of Prophet Pearls, Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson discuss the Prophets portion for Va'etchanan covering Isaiah 40:1-26. ”Nachamu, nachamu, / Comfort, comfort ye my people” begins this portion as well as the theme of Haftarah readings for the next seven weeks. Gordon explains the history and symbolism for these “Haftarot of consolation” and why they are read from Tish’ah b’Av (the ninth of Av) until Rosh Hashanah.  We also learn the remarkable story of Herbert Samuel—whose reading of this portion at the Hurva Synagogue in 1920 was seen as the official pronouncement of the end of the third exile.

Word studies include: “nacham/comfort,” and “ratzah/accepted.” Gordon explains comma placement in translations from Hebrew and Greek that support the classic image of redemption coming from the wilderness. In closing, Johnson prays, “you are God and there is no other’ and asks for the humility to apply the Word to all aspects of life.

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." Isaiah 40:1

I look forward to reading your comments!

Download Prophet Pearls Va'etchanan Transcript
Prophet Pearls #45 - Va'etchanan (Isaiah 40:1-26)

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.

Nehemia: Shalom, and welcome to Prophet Pearls, from the city of truth, the faithful metropolis, the eternal capital of Israel and the Jewish people, this is Nehemia Gordon with Keith Johnson, down in the sub-basement of the safehouse in Jerusalem, unpacking the prophets who preached at the very place where we are recording this program. Shalom.

Keith: Impressive! “Unpacking the prophets who preached this message in the very place,” did you do that on purpose? I love that, you sound like Isaiah.

Nehemia: Do what on purpose?

Keith: The “P P P P P.”

Nehemia: Oh, alliteration, yeah.

Keith: No, no, that’s hot. [laughing] Hey, Maccabees, you’re on again, thank you so much.

Nehemia: Toda, Maccabees.

Keith: Folks, I’m telling you something - we need more people like the Maccabees that will say, “Hey, whatever it takes, we’re going to help you to be able to get this message out.”

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: And so we want to thank them, we want to thank everybody that’s actually helped us, and we’re actually in what I call the Prophet Series, I’m sorry, The Isaiah Series in the Prophet Pearls. That’s just what I call it, because I like it, because we’re in Isaiah from now to just about the end of our deal. But Nehemia, what do you think of this? You know, this is Isaiah 40 verse… is it true? Is it 40 verse 1?

Nehemia: 40 verse 1?

Keith: Do you know what happened about this? No, folks, I don’t know if you know this or not, I got so frustrated. About the third Prophet Pearls, we had to do Isaiah 40 verse 27, and we did the end, and I was so frustrated, and you said, “It’s ok, eventually we’re going to get to Isaiah 40 verse 1,” and so now literally we did the second half of this episode 3, I believe it was, correct me if I’m wrong.

Nehemia: Go on.

Keith: Let’s see, it was episode…

Nehemia: Episode 3 was 40:27 through 41:16.

Keith: Exactly, so basically, we, in episode 3 of Prophet Pearls, for those who didn’t hear it, click back…

Nehemia: Previously on Prophet Pearls…

Keith: … we did 27, and I was frustrated, I’m like, “What kind of deal is this? What do you have me doing? “We’ve got to do this section, it’s connected.” What’s the section that we’re connected to in the Torah Pearls? That’s the question.

Nehemia: Yeah, so it’s the section Va’etkhanan, now here is a little bit of…

Keith: People don’t know what that is, Nehemia. Tell them it’s Deuteronomy 3…

Nehemia: Alright, so it’s Deuteronomy… hold on a second, let me pull this out.

Keith: 3:23 through 7:11.

Nehemia: There it is, you got it from Keith Johnson first. Alright, and it’s chapter 40 verses 1 to 26. Now, here’s where things get a little complicated. This is episode 45, or it’s the 45th section.

Keith: I don't want to hear about the numbers, I’m confused.

Nehemia: No, that’s important. So for the first 44 sections of the Prophets, of the haftara, there was something in the portion which corresponded to something in the Prophets. In other words…

Keith: Don’t tell me you’re changing…

Nehemia: There was something, let’s say, I don’t know, in the portion of…

Keith: Pinkhas

Nehemia: Pinkhas, and there was some association, they had some word, some concept, some commandment that was found in the Prophets, that connected to the Torah portion. So, for seven sections that is not the case.

Keith: So you’re telling me that if I’m listening to the Original Torah Pearls, and I get to this section, and I want to go to the haftara section, it’s going to be about like as the previous 44, you’re telling me there’s nothing there.

Nehemia: Well, no. So there’s a haftara section, there’s a Prophet section, but it’s not associated with the Torah portion.

Keith: I understand, and why is this?

Nehemia: So there are seven haftarot, or seven Prophet Portions, which are called “the sections of comfort”. And it begins with this section, chapter 40 verse 1, which starts, “Nakhamu, nakhamu ami,” “‘Comfort O comfort My people,’ says your God.” And why are these the seven sections of comfort? Because in the traditional reading cycle in the Rabbinical synagogues, these are the seven Prophets Portions read from Tisha B’av to Rosh Hashana. That means the 9th day of the fifth Hebrew month, which the rabbis call Tisha, ninth, of Av, they call it by the Babylonian name Av, ninth of Av, until Yom Tru’a, which they call Rosh Hashana, the day of shouting or trumpets, they call it “the head of the year”.

So why do you have seven sessions between the 9th of Av and Rosh Hashana? Because according to Rabbinical tradition, the Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av in the year 70 AD. Both the First and Second Temples were destroyed on the 9th of Av. The first one in… well they give a different date. But historians say 586 BCE and 70 AD for the Second Temple. Now, I say by tradition, because in the Tanakh we’re actually told that the city of Jerusalem burned from the 7th to the 10th for four days in the First Temple, and then Josephus tells us it actually burned on the 10th. But whatever, the 9th is close enough. So the 9th of Av is…

Keith: You’re telling me the tradition is not one hundred-percent right?

Nehemia: Well, it’s interesting. So what happened on the 9th of Av that actually happened was the defeat of the Bar Kokhva uprising in 135 AD, so the rabbis said, Oh, that’s the 9th of Av, these other things are like the 7th, the 10th, we’re just going to…”

Keith: Backtrack that…

Nehemia: Backtrack that and keep a straight line and come up with a bunch of things that happened on the 9th of Av, even though they were the 10th or the 7th. You know, what’s a few days between me and you? As Abraham said to Ephron. [laughing]

Keith: Look, was it the 4th of July or not? You’re going to take away the 4th of July?

Nehemia: Maybe it was the 3rd of July, or the 6th of July, or… come on, you know…?

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: Anyway, so long story short, 9th of Av is by tradition when the Temples were destroyed and the Bar Kokhva revolt was put down et cetera, and a bunch of other things. And so from the 9th of Av, every Shabbat from the 9th of Av until Rosh Hashana they read seven haftarot, seven Prophets sections which are from the comfort portions of Isaiah, chapters 40 through 66. Remember we talked about Isaiah having 3 sections.

There is the rebuke, there is the warning if you don’t obey the rebuke and there is the comfort. And really the concept here is we’re going from destruction, which is represented by the 9th of Av, to Rosh Hashana, or The Day of the Trumpets, when we blow the shofar for the redemption. And so these prophecies are getting us from the destruction of the Temple through the exile to the final redemption, symbolically. And so this annual reading of the cycle, in the Rabbinical tradition, echoes the patterns of prophetic history. That’s the idea.

Keith: Okay, awesome. Well, I would like to read the first verse like this, if it’s okay.

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: “‘Nehemia! Nehemia! My people,’ says your God.” [laughing] No, I’m telling you, folks, I want to read it that way. Nehemia, if I wanted to create something like that, if I wanted to, how close would I be? Those first two words, how close is it to your name?

Nehemia: Ok, so my name is Nechemia, which means “Yah comforts,” Yehovah comforts. And this is the Word of the Week, obviously, nakhamu.

Keith: What do you mean, “obviously”?

Nehemia: It has to be. This and the next 6 portions after are based on this word.

Keith: Yeah.

Nehemia: “Nakhamu” means “comfort”, and technically it’s what we call an imperative. It’s like, go, walk, sit - you know, a command. And so nakhamu is the plural, it really is “comfort ye,” you know, y’all. Comfort, all y’all. Comfort all y’all. “‘Comfort all y’all, My people,’ says your God.”

Keith: So you’re supposed to be walking in your name. You’re supposed to be a guy of comfort. I’m sitting down here in the sub-basement…

Nehemia: And you’re not comfortable. [laughing]

Keith: No, I’m not comfortable. I’m not comfortable at all, Nehemia!

Nehemia: Well, I want to comfort people with the word of God, and sometimes giving them the word of God makes them uncomfortable. And that’s okay, because in the end it will comfort them if they embrace it.

Keith: So it kind of fits, we’re doing the word of God in an uncomfortable room.

Nehemia: The word is Nun Khet Mem, as in Nechemia, or nakhamu. “Comfort ye comfort ye, My people.” And I don’t know if you know this, but this is actually a really important verse. First of all, it’s the opening of chapters 40 through 66. But this is actually one of my favorite verses in the Tanakh. I know you make fun of me, but really this is in the top 50 favorite verses.

Keith: It’s got to be, your name is twice.

Nehemia: Not just because of my name. So I want to share a very interesting event in Jewish history that happened related to this verse. May I do that?

Keith: Please do.

Nehemia: Okay. This is something that happened on July 31, 1920. Now, between 1517 and 1917 the Turks rule Israel. 1917, the British fight the Turks, and they gradually drive the Turks out. Finally, in 1920 they appoint the first British High Commissioner, what’s called the first High Commissioner of Palestine, under the British. Now, when they’re saying “Palestine” they’re not thinking “Palestinian Arabs,” what they’re thinking is… the Romans called Judea, in 135 AD they renamed it “Palestina” in Latin, and then the Arabs called it “Philsatine,” and now the British are calling it “Palestine.” Palestinians at this point of history are Jews who live in Palestine.

So the first high Commissioner of Palestine under the British rule, his name was Herbert Samuel, and He was a Jew, he was a British Jew. And this was considered a really big deal, because Herbert Samuel was the first Jewish ruler over Israel in 2,000 years. And you say, “Oh, he wasn’t very Jewish, I mean, he was Jewish, but he was British, right?” But think about the man I’m named after, Nechemia, he was the guy who held the cup for the king of Persia. So he was a Persian governor, the Nechemia I’m named after. He was a Persian royal official. And so Herbert Samuel is seen as a latter day Nehemiah. A latter day Zerubavel, as well, who was also a Persian official.

So Herbert Samuel comes to Israel, and within a week of arriving in Israel he does something really radical; he comes to the Hurva Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem, and they say, “Oh, you’re the High Commissioner of Palestine, you represent the British, but you’re a Jew. Would you honor us by reading the haftara portion?” And he comes and he stands up on the platform, the bima, and he begins to read, “Nakhamu, nakhamu ami,” [laughing] “Be comforted, be comforted My people.” And imagine this… this is the…

Keith: No, no, no. Where is that synagogue?

Nehemia: What do you mean? This is the central synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem, in the Jewish Quarter. You look at the Old City of Jerusalem from any angle and you see the Jewish Quarter, and the first thing you see is the Hurva Synagogue, it is the heart of the synagogues in the Old… obviously the heart of the Old City is the Western Wall, but in the Jewish Quarter, which is up on a hill above the Western Wall, the heart of the Jewish Quarter is the Hurva Synagogue to this very day.

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: It was actually destroyed by the Jordanians, they recently rebuilt it, and you see this dome from everywhere you see the Old City. So imagine that. So Herbert Samuel comes and he reads this, can you imagine this? Imagine you’re a Jew and you’re sitting in the audience and you’ve been living in Israel for years and you’re ruled by these Turks who treat you like a second-class citizen. By law - as a Jew, you are a second-class citizen under the Muslims. There’s a tragic account about this Muslim ruler over there, where he sentences one of his people to death for breaking the law, and somebody comes before the sultan and says, “But that Jew did the same thing,” and he said, “Oh, well let’s kill the Jew then, we don’t want to kill one of our own. We’ve got to make an example of somebody, let’s kill the Jew.” That’s what it was like under Muslim rule, and now all of a sudden there is a Jew who’s the first governor of Israel in 2,000 years and he comes and he reads, “Be comforted, be comforted My people.” This is no small thing. There was a man who was present, named Eliezer Ben Yehuda.

Keith: No, he wasn’t there.

Nehemia: He was there in the synagogue.

Keith: No!

Nehemia: He was there in the synagogue! [laughing]

Keith: Hold on, you can’t tell this without telling me first. No, this is golden! What are you talking about?

Nehemia: Eliezer Ben Yehuda is the Jew who almost single handedly revived the Hebrew language.

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: He arrived in Israel in 1880, and he started speaking Hebrew, and people thought he was crazy.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: This was the language of synagogue, it was the language when you would study Torah, you wouldn’t speak it in the street. And actually, his son was the first native Hebrew speaker in over a thousand years, or something like a thousand years, and by 1920 there is an entire generation who is raised up speaking Hebrew. And he came to the synagogue.

Now, you have to understand something about Ben Yehuda. He was a secular Jew; in fact he was excommunicated by the rabbis, which is a really big deal. The rabbis don’t… I haven’t even been excommunicated yet. [laughing] It’s like you getting kicked out of the Methodist church.

Keith: Hey, leave that alone.

Nehemia: No, so they actually formally excommunicated Eliezer Ben Yehuda.

Keith: Lama?

Nehemia: He wasn’t just secular, he was antireligious.

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: He said, “You religious people kept us in exile for 2,000 years, it’s time to throw off the shackles of the exile and return to our homeland and speak our language,” and they said, “Heretic. We must speak the language we spoke in exile.” And there were Jews in Israel who were speaking Yiddish, which is a dialect of German, and other Jews who were speaking Arabic, and other Jews who were speaking Turkish. They said, “We’ll speak any language but not Hebrew.” Eliezer Ben Yehuda changed it.

So he shows up at the synagogue, and this is the first time he’d been at synagogue in years, and why was he there? Because he knew the High Commissioner was coming there, and it was the first Shabbat after Herbert Samuel arrived, and here is what he wrote to his wife, whose name was Biti. Biti was actually her loving nickname, it means “my daughter,” or “my lady.” He says, “Our friend the High Commissioner read from the Torah, Biti. He read those lines from Isaiah ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye My people.’ As he read them I could not control myself. I cried, Biti, and I guess people saw me, I’m sure they wondered why I was there. For nearly 40 years I have been working to separate religion from state, haven’t I?” This is Eliezer Ben Yehuda writing. “I did it because I wanted Israel to be able to develop freely, so that those who are Orthodox and those who are free thinkers could join in the resurrection of Israel. Only in that way could our new state ever be strong.” And he goes on, “I suppose some people will think that now I am a traitor to my own ideas, they are always accusing me of that. I still believe we must keep our religion and our state apart. But Biti, it is so good a thing to see a British High Commissioner standing in the synagogue reading from the Torah.”

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: Wow. Now, this is… I can’t emphasize how huge this was. You know, Herbert Samuel’s reading in this particular… of all the prophecies, he just happened to show up in Israel, in Palestine, in Jerusalem that week! And this is the first week he comes to the synagogue, and it was quite literally seen as the official pronouncement of the end of the third exile, him reading these words in the synagogue. We had three exiles; 400 years in Egypt, 70 years in Babylon, 1,850 years at the hands of Rome. This is how the Jews of the time described it. And Ben Yehuda, the secular anti-religious Jew, his reacting so strongly was seen as a confirmation of the gravity of this event. And here’s a witness who was there in the synagogue who wrote his followers. He says, “I was in the Hurva synagogue the day the end of the third…” I can’t even read this… and he said, “I was in the Hurva synagogue the day the end of the third exile was officially pronounced.”

Again, people, this is July 31, 1920, Shabbat, the Old City of Jerusalem, the British High Commissioner is reading “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people.” He says, “Ben Yehuda was also there,” this is a witness who saw him, “I was near enough to him so I could see the tears streaming down his face. I saw the look in his eyes, I knew then what I had always suspected - down underneath it all Ben Yehuda had a deeply religious soul. He has fought superstition and bigotry and fanaticism, but that does not mean he is not a good and humble man.”

Wow. This is a big deal. This prophecy for 2,000 years kept Jews… gave them some sense of hope, and then for this to be read… and imagine the hopes around this. We’ve been ruled by the Muslims for a thousand years, we had the crusaders and the Muslims and the Turks, and then the British came, and you remember the background of the British here, of invading Israel, is they made the Balfour Declaration, in which they declared that Palestine would be the homeland of the Jewish people. They recognized what God had already commanded. And then during the negotiations with the League of Nations, which gave the British official international recognition over so-called Palestine, the purpose of the Palestine Mandate was to establish a Jewish home in Israel.

And the first commissioner is a Jew, and he’s reading in the synagogue, and even this anti-religious Jew, his heart is just stirred up by these words: “Be comforted, be comforted My people,” coming from the first Jewish ruler in 2,000 years.

Keith: You know, it’s interesting too, because now we’re talking about that, which is real history, you know, this is a prophecy for yesterday, today and tomorrow. I really appreciate you sharing that story, Nehemia, because there are so many levels that are amazing, but the other thing that’s amazing is that we’ve had this idea in the seminaries, we’ve taught in the seminaries that there are two Isaiahs. That the one that we talked about in the first part is different than this one, because this one is just too… as we called him, Nehemia, “the eagle-eye prophet”. He sees too clear. For him to be able to be prophesying now in 40 verse 1 about the future, and then you bring that story. I mean, is that what Isaiah saw? Did he see that plus other things? I mean, it’s like…

Nehemia: And could I tell you how this is seen even to this day by many Jews? So I actually grew up being taught that we were in a period of history called “atkhalta de’geh’ula,” “the beginning of the redemption.” And you could argue whether it began in 1917 with the invasion of the British, or it began on July 31, 1920 with the reading of this prophecy.

Keith: Some time in that period...

Nehemia: But many Jews believe that the redemption, and it’s described in a number of places in prophecy, as the birth pangs. It talks about a woman in travail, giving birth, and if you think about birth pangs - and you’ve had three sons - I don’t know, were you in the room or were you hiding?

Keith: I was absolutely in the room.

Nehemia: Okay, so if you think about birth pangs, it’s a process. The baby doesn’t get born in one second, right? I mean, it could be many hours, depending on the woman. And so many Jews look at this and say, “We are currently in the birth pangs of the Messiah,” that’s what it’s called. The birth pangs of the Messiah, I’ve talked about that before, I think, and we look and we say, “Oh, you know, wait a minute, after this there was the Holocaust. Yeah, it hurts. There’s war, there’s pain. This is the birth pangs of the Messiah.”

Keith: Well, I’m down here in this sub-basement folks, you know, Nehemia leaves me here by myself. I sometimes sneak out and catch him, but while I’ve been here, I’ve been looking at history. And you know, we’ve prepared our Prophet Pearls, this is the third time through, and so I was doing some research just about this issue, the Palestinian issue and Palestine, and you hit the nail right on the head, Nehemia, as far as the naming of Palestine and what presently they call the Palestinians, but what’s so powerful to me is when verse 2 says, if I can please…

Nehemia: Please, oh my gosh, I’ll try not to cry.

Keith: No, please, cry as much as you want. This is beautiful.

Nehemia: “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem…”

Keith: Let me, okay…

Nehemia: “...proclaim to her.” Go on, you read it.

Keith: No, no, I’m trying to get it, you’ll start weeping again.

Nehemia: Go on.

Keith: This is a really special time. “And call out to her that her…” and here is the word that they’re using here “tzeva’a,” which you know, we use it in “tzeva’ot.” But it says that “her warfare has ended”. Now, think about this. So Isaiah is there, and you know, they say it’s too clear. It’s too straightforward. It’s too prophetic for him, it’s got to be a different Isaiah for him to say that. And you just brought this example, and what was going on in 1917, 1920 going on into Israel declaring itself as… war, war, war, war…

Nehemia: And war is still going on.

Keith: Yeah, and war is still going on.

Nehemia: That’s why it’s the beginning.

Keith: It goes from warfare to, “that her iniquity has been removed”. And then it goes on to say, and you know, you talked about birth pangs, that she has received of Yehovah’s hand, and I don’t know, can this be correct? That she has received dual or double…?

Nehemia: Double, for all her sins.

Keith: Man, oh man.

Nehemia: And that of course references Exodus 22:7 verse 6 in the Hebrew, where if you steal you actually have to pay back double. And that’s that, metaphorically now, Israel is being paid back double for her iniquities. It’s… wow, isn’t that the truth? Look at the Holocaust, look at all the suffering that we’ve gone through, you know?

And can I just say something here about verse 2? So you translated it as “her iniquity has been removed,” and I’m wondering, are there other translations? Because I didn’t even look in the English, let’s see if… because that’s not what it says in Hebrew. I love when this happens. JPS has, “that her iniquity is expiated.” I love that word, expiated. So vague, who knows what it means? “Her iniquity is pardoned,” in King James Version. NRSV has “her penalty is paid.” Can I tell you what it says in the Hebrew?

Keith: What is it, like, “make amends” or “restore”?

Nehemia: The word is “nirtza,” which means “accepted”. I think we had this as a Word of the Week, maybe, or we definitely talked about it.

Keith: I don’t know if we did.

Nehemia: “Ratza” in biblical Hebrew means “to be accepted,” a sacrifice being accepted, and if I had to translate this without any kind of agenda I’d say, “her iniquity offering has been accepted”. Wow.

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: Her sin offering, or literally, her iniquity has been accepted.

Keith: Well she’s received double from Yehovah’s hand for all of her sins.

Nehemia: Wow.

Keith: Nehemia, the thing is, if we were to talk about the section that’s coming…

Nehemia: Wait, go on…

Keith: No, no, go ahead.

Nehemia: I’ve got to offer my drash. My homiletical interpretation of this, the deeper meaning. So here we’ve got this commandment of Exodus 22:7 in the English, verse 6 in the Hebrew. “If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep and it be stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief be found let him pay double.” So why do we have to pay double for our sins? And I’m just thinking out loud here, this is me going off the reservation. Israel was entrusted to guard the Torah and we let it get stolen, and now we had to pay double. Move on.

Keith: And what do we pay for that?

Nehemia: What do you mean?

Keith: Just your opinion on that.

Nehemia: 2,000 years of suffering in exile.

Keith: No, no, I’m saying, this is your… you thought about that.

Nehemia: That’s my thought, yeah. Well, that’s why I said we had to pay double.

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: Maybe, I don’t know. It’s just a thought.

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: Now this is a verse you wanted to get to.

Keith: No, I wouldn’t say I wanted to get to, because it’s interesting. You know, when I read this verse I keep asking myself… here’s what the issue is. So there are some verses that for me in my heritage and my background, that when I hear the verse I don’t think of where it came from, the concept. And there are times now where I am actually confused. I want to make a confession. I’m sitting here right now and I’m like, “A voice is calling, clear the way of Yehovah in the wilderness, make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low, and let rough ground become a plane and the rugged terrain a broad valley.”

Let me stop there. So I’m thinking, “a voice is calling, clear the way…” and I’m thinking now, “Did I first hear that at the end of the book? Did I hear that in the New Testament first? Or was that something I first learned in Isaiah?” And I guarantee you I didn’t first get it in Isaiah, meaning, I’m talking about in my tradition.

Nehemia: Right.

Keith: And that’s where there has been a bit of a shift with me.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: Where I’ve had to ask myself, when I read something, or I’ve read something, I’ve actually been forced now, Nehemia, to say, “Where does it come from and what was its original context? And then going back and saying, “Okay, so what does it mean there?”

Nehemia: So let me… can I explain what the real issue is here? So I’m going to read Matthew chapter 3 verse 3. It’s speaking about John the Baptist, it says, “For this is he that was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight.’” And the issue here is really where we put the comma. Because when we read it in the Hebrew what we read is…

For example, the New Revised Standard Version, which is a Christian translation but still gets it right based on the Hebrew, “A voice cries out, ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord (in Hebrew, Yehovah), make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’ ” And again, this is an image we’ve seen or maybe will get to more, where we see Yehovah coming from the desert, that’s the image, you know, Yehovah comes from the desert of the south, from Sinai, from Horev, from Se’ir, and that’s the image here. God’s coming, we better get ready, we better prepare the way for Him.

And what’s interesting here is the voice crying out, comma, “in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,” or, is the voice crying out, in the wilderness, comma, “prepare the way of the Lord.” And this is really interesting to me, because I’ve actually read scholarly discussions about this that said Matthew took it out of context and misunderstood it. He thought the voice was in the wilderness and John the Baptist is the voice, and so John the Baptist is saying “Prepare the way of the Lord,” as opposed to the voice is crying out, “Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness.”

And I looked back in the Greek of the Septuagint and the Greek of Matthew, and it’s not so clear that the Greek got it wrong. In other words, you could legitimately translate even the Greek of Matthew as, “A voice cries out ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,’” meaning there are no commas in the Greek.

Keith: Right.

Nehemia: So isn’t that interesting? They said, “Oh, here is what the Hebrew means in context, no question about that, here is what the Greek of the New Testament means in context, the New Testament got it wrong,” but actually I think they’re saying the same thing. I don’t see any difference reading it in the Greek. And I’ve spoken to a Greek expert about this, and he said, “Yeah, you could read it either way, there are no commas in the Greek.” [laughing]

Keith: And I think that’s the part that I said where I first would hear something, because it’s like this element, please bear with me, be patient with me.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: So you hear “Comfort, comfort My people.”

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: Then in 1920, this man stands up and he says that text, “Comfort, comfort My people” and if you’re sitting there you’re interpreting and you’re saying, “Okay, was this the act that Isaiah was talking about?” In other words, was that the act that Isaiah was talking about? Or is it something that’s continued? And then when I get to Matthew and I hear that, so then I just ask myself, “So what is…” And again, we’re not talking about the New Testament right here, we’re talking about Isaiah in its original language, history and context, but it causes me to ask, “So what was the interpretation?” I appreciate the fact that you brought that up, it’s just one of those issues…

Nehemia: And verse 5 is the key verse for understanding the original context, can you read me verse 5?

Keith: Yeah. Okay, so I already mentioned “every hill lifted up” et cetera.

Nehemia: So we’re preparing the way, and now what happens after we prepared the way?

Keith: Yeah, yeah, yeah. “Then the glory of Yehovah will be revealed.”

Nehemia: Amen! That’s the point. “And…”

Keith: “And all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of Yehovah has spoken.”

Nehemia: Alright. Now, so there you could say, “Well, Matthew took it out of context, because not all flesh was revealed then,” but he actually didn’t quote that part of the prophecy.

Keith: No, he didn’t.

Nehemia: He’s taking this particular verse and saying, “Okay, here’s an application of that.” Not that necessarily that’s what Isaiah was always talking about, because the key in Isaiah is verse 5. And by the way, this is a single prophecy, verses 3 through 5. We have little spaces in Hebrew to see that that’s a separate prophecy, verse 6 is already another prophecy, if I’m not mistaken.

And what does it mean “a voice crying out, ‘In the wilderness prepare a way to the Lord?’” So Isaiah is in a vision, and he sees something, and what does he see? He actually doesn’t see anything, he hears.

Keith: That’s right.

Nehemia: A voice crying out! And what does the voice cry out?

Keith: Make way.

Nehemia: “In the wilderness prepare a way for Yehovah! Make straight in the Arava a highway for our God.” Okay, beseder. That’s actually this classic image of Yehovah coming from the desert of the south, from Sinai.

Keith: Wow. And then it says again, though…

Nehemia: Verse 6. A voice crying out.

Keith: A voice says again, “Call out!” Is that what it’s saying?

Nehemia: Yeah. The voice says to him, “call out”. And he said, “What shall I call out?” This reminds me of where he says, “Read? I can’t read, I don’t know how to read.” And the other guy says, “Well, I can’t read because it’s sealed.” Remember that? In Isaiah?

Keith: Exactly. “All flesh is grass and its loveliness is like the flower of the field,” that’s what you’re going to cry out. “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of Yehovah blows upon it, surely the people are grass, it doesn’t last for long. It withers, the flower fades…” this is a pick and choose time folks, pick and choose.

Nehemia: Pick and choose, what does that mean? Oh, we don’t have time…

Keith: No, we can’t do the whole thing, but I love the last part of this phrase in Isaiah 40 verse 8, and I just want to look at it here. “And the word of Yehovah stands (or rises) for…” I could say just for a thousand years, no, “le’olam,” it stands forever. His word stands forever, and so what a great thing to invest in. When I say by our time, our energy, and I dare say even our resources, where we can do everything we can to try to understand what the word of God says, what it means, how it can apply in our life, because that’s something that stands forever. In other words, He didn’t speak it and say, “Now it’s done.” But He spoke it, it’s written, it’s for us and we can understand it in its language, history and context.

Nehemia: Wow.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Verses 9 to 11 is the next prophecy, can we just read that as a unit? I love this passage.

Keith: Please, you read this one.

Nehemia: No, you read it, please.

Keith: No, no, no, you’re going to do it.

Nehemia: I’m going to read verse 9. “Upon a high mountain go up for yourself, oh herald of Zion,” is that what you have? “Harimi bako’akh kolekh,” “Raise up in strength your voice O announcer of good tidings of Jerusalem, raise up, do not be afraid, say to the cities of Judah, ‘Hineh Elo’heykhem’, ‘Behold your God.’”

Keith: No, no, no, I let you read it because you didn’t want to say this, “Get yourself up on a high mountain O Zion, bearer of good news, lift up your voice mightily O Jerusalem bearer of good news, lift it up, do not fear, say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God.’” Now when they say twice in the NASB, “good news” twice...

Nehemia: Yeah, “good news.” It’s a good translation, because the word is “mevaseret.” Now, “mevaseret” means “announcer” or “announcer of good news”.

Keith: So where were you reading?

Nehemia: I was reading from the Hebrew.

Keith: You decided you didn’t want to do “mevaseret”.

Nehemia: Well it’s announcer, the announcer of good news. But it could also be announcer of bad news, by the way.

Keith: Do you remember when we were in Mevaseret…

Nehemia: Mevaseret is a name of a city today, or a town.

Keith: Yeah, do you remember when we went there?

Nehemia: No, when did we go there?

Keith: You don’t? You forget all these…

Nehemia: I’ve been there many times.

Keith: You know, it’s funny…

Nehemia: You were there once, I’ve been there a hundred times! [laughing]

Keith: I’ll be honest with you, sometimes I had really significant things, and I’ll say, “Do you remember?” And you’ll say, “No, I don’t know what…”

Nehemia: What happened in Mevaseret?

Keith: We had radio interviews over there with…

Nehemia: Oh right, yeah, yeah, yeah! That was Mevaseret? Oh, you’re right, okay, beseder. I’ve been there lots of times, like I said, you’ve been there once, it’s a big deal for you.

Keith: You know, I want to stop, folks. I want to tell you something that happens sometimes. It always happens with the husband and the wife, they’ll forget certain things and the husband will say, “Do you remember when?” or the wife will say, “Do you remember when?” and he’ll say, “No”. And sometimes, Nehemia, you don’t remember really important things, and I want you to remember these kinds of…

Nehemia: You mean things that are important to you.

Keith: The reason that I said it was important, let me just tell you. Because it was the first time that I had ever heard good news in English, which had a certain image in my mind, and then this word “mevaseret”. And then we were in this place, and for me, you have to understand, it was like a really big deal, because it was like, wow, how is this word used, and how is it translated and how did we get to good news in English, like in here in Isaiah in NASB? What was the process? And again, like I say, it’s just another one of those examples where I’m in the Land of Israel at the actual place that’s named that, so that the town in English, I could’ve said the town is named “Good News”.

Nehemia: Announcer of good news.

Keith: Announcer of good news.

Nehemia: Mevaseret is announcer of good news. And you studied at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, right?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: You’ve got your masters, in Divinity or something like that.

Keith: Cum laude, are you kidding me?

Nehemia: Cum laude. So, do you remember what the Greek word for “gospel” is? Evangelion, right?

Keith: Evangelion, yes.

Nehemia: Evangelion is “gospel”, and so here is the interesting thing. I looked in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of Isaiah in this case, and the Greek translation of mevaseret, announcer of good news, is evengalizomonos, which means, someone who announces good news. And you could translate it literally as, “evangelist”. So now can you read me the verse with evangelist?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Read it now, the verse with evangelist in it…

Keith: You mean evangelist, so, in other words…

Nehemia: Because that’s the Greek word, evengalizomonos. What verse are we in? 40 verse 9. “Get you up to a high mountain O Zion, evangelist of good tidings, lift up your voice with strength O Jerusalem, evangelist of good tidings. Lift it up, do not fear, say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God.’”

Now, here is why this is interesting to me. Not because of the connection with evangelist. That is interesting, and actually that is… you know, obviously evangelion in the New Testament context means the good news, right? Is that known to the Christian world?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Okay. So here this word “announcer of good tidings,” “announcer of good news” is in the feminine. It’s a woman who announces it. It’s a female evangelist. Isn’t that interesting?

Keith: You’re getting better, Nehemia.

Nehemia: No, this is part of your feminist agenda. But this is a fact, it’s in the feminine. It says mevaseret Tzion, and you could say in Hebrew mevaser Tzion, a male who announces the good news. Why is it that the woman is announcing good news? Because this was a role that people had, you know? They didn’t internet, they didn’t have CNN, they didn’t have Twitter. If there was news that needed to be spread, there was a woman who would travel on that round and say, did you hear the good news? We defeated the Babylonians. Did you hear the good news? There’s a new king and he’s been anointed in Jerusalem at the Gihon Spring. Did you hear the good news? The king now has 400 chariots. And this was a job of certain women that would go around, and they would go to the city and they would raise up their voice at the top of their lungs and they would say, “Solomon has been anointed king! Solomon is the mashiakh!” And they would announce this to the cities of Jerusalem, and what the prophet is talking about is something everybody knew from daily life. There were women who travelled around and they would announce news. And in this particular case, the woman comes around and she says, “Hineh Elo’hekhem”, “behold your God”, “Hineh Adonay Yehovah”, “behold Lord Yehovah”, “Bekhazak yavo uzro’o moshla lo”, “He will come in strength, and His arm will be mighty and rule....” This is beautiful. You get the image of what’s happening, the woman she’s going around she’s standing in the public square and saying, “Behold!” She’s the evangelist.

Keith: [laughing] This is impressive. I really do love that. And you have any examples where we can read in Scripture where we see a woman going out and making those announcements?

Nehemia: Well, here is one right here.

Keith: Obviously, here, it’s saying this as in the feminine, but I’m talking about an example where it says, “and she came and she announced,” can you think of that? I wonder, for example, when the king…

Nehemia: I think about the woman from Tekoa.

Keith: Or when the king was anointed and she… I’m trying to think of an example like that, while you’re doing that. That was good stuff there. Can you think of that?

Nehemia: Yeah, I’m going to bring it here, hold on a second. You’re asking me to pull stuff out here. Okay. So there’s the woman from Tekoa who comes and makes the announcement, was it to king David or something? Wait, I’m only looking at Isaiah, hold on.

Here, this is in 2 Samuel chapter 14 verse 4, and this is a little different, because she was coming before the king and Joab sent her. It’s verse 4, it’s where he’s telling her to do it and when she actually does it is verse 9 or so, let me see. Okay. The king asked her, “What troubles you?” And she answered, “Alas, I am a widow, my husband is dead, your maidservant had two sons,” and she tells her whole story. So it’s not strange for him to have this woman who’s coming, and she says, “Look, I’ve got this issue I need to talk to you about.” But I don’t know, do you have an example of a woman coming to make an announcement?

Keith: No, I was trying to think, and actually I can’t think of it at the top of my head.

Nehemia: Does anything come to mind?

Keith: When the king was anointed and she came and said… but you know what? I’d have to check.

Nehemia: But what’s interesting is that in later Jewish tradition this reality continued - that women would make announcements and they would tell the news, but then we’ve turned this into a negative thing. We have in Jewish tradition, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard this, this figure of the yenta. The yenta is the woman gossiper who goes around telling the news, well, I think that’s part of this anti-women agenda. And that originally the woman who would be announcing, she was an evangelist, she was announcing the good news.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: She was the Twitter of her day.

Keith: Amen. Wow.

Nehemia: Yeah. Verse 12 is a new prophecy.

Keith: Verse 12 is a new prophecy; can I go to it?

Nehemia: Please.

Keith: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?” We could have a revival off of that right there. “And marked the heavens by the span,” No…

Nehemia: Oh, no...

Keith: No, no, no.

Nehemia: Is that what you got?

Keith: No, it can’t be.

Nehemia: “He has measured the heavens with His pinky,” is what it says in Hebrew.

Keith: Yeah, it says… so beautiful.

Nehemia: Yeah.

Keith: “And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills on a pair of scales. Who has directed the spirit of Yehovah or as His counsellor has informed Him?”

Nehemia: Really? That’s what you have, “directed”?

Keith: That’s what it says, “directed.”

Nehemia: What? No, it’s the same word as in verse 12, where it says, “He has measured the heavens with His pinky.” And it literally means, “who has measured the spirit of Yehovah?” And the point is, the spirit of Yehovah is infinite, it can’t be measured.

Keith: Amen. Well, who has counselled Him?

Nehemia: Nobody.

Keith: Who set Him down and said…

Nehemia: Nobody, it’s a rhetorical question, the answer is, nobody.

Keith: Your approach that you’re taking right now with the nations is just not wise, let’s give You some advice. That just doesn’t happen.

Nehemia: Yeah. Now here is an interesting kind of tidbit. This is more for the advanced people. And that’s in verse 13 he says, “who has measured the spirit of Yehovah?” And the Masoretes, these were the scribes who preserved the Hebrew text, and they preserved the accents and the vowels, so they actually did something a little bit controversial here, and we have Jewish sources that point this out. The Masoretes, apparently, according to the Jewish sources, changed the accents in this verse, and instead of making it, “Who has measured the spirit of Yehovah?” You know, the accents have a number of functions, one of them is a series of commas and semicolons and pauses, so they changed the accents, according to the Jewish sources, to make the verse read, “Who has measured the ru'akh?” Which could mean the “wind” or the “spirit,” pause, “Yehovah.” That is, Yehovah is the one who has measured the spirit. That’s not what it says in the original [laughing] context obviously, but they were concerned…

Keith: You’re saying that they’ve made it as a pause pause before Yehovah?

Nehemia: Right, and why did they do that? They were nervous that someone would come along and say, “Oh, we don’t know what a rhetorical question is; there is an answer to this question.” And the answer, who has measured the spirit of Yehovah? I don’t know, the angel Metatron, or the angel Gabriel or something. You know, they were afraid of some heresy that might come along and actually give an answer to what is a rhetorical question.

And this reminds me of a verse, Proverbs 30 verse 4, which Jews also understand to be a rhetorical question, to which the answer is “nobody”.

Keith: And last question, you said they changed the vowels of which word?

Nehemia: The accents.

Keith: Oh, the accents.

Nehemia: And so what they did here, let me pull out the accents here, Proverbs 30…

Keith: Because I’m seeing….

Nehemia: What verse are we in?

Keith: 13.

Nehemia: 13. Sorry, I’m looking at three different bibles here. So we have here a tipkha, which is a minor pause. Actually, it’s a pretty big pause. “Mi tiken et ru’akh, Yehovah?” and what you should’ve had, probably, was something like a munakh in “ru’akh,” “Mi tiken, et ru’akh Yehovah?” Who has measured, the spirit of Yehovah? That’s what you would’ve expected.

Keith: Impressive.

Nehemia: Yeah. Anyway, that’s kind of a more advanced point for those who know about biblical accents. And this is actually brought as an exception to the rule where the accents don’t actually fit the text, and they were probably changed intentionally.

Keith: You heard it here first.

Nehemia: In Jewish sources – meaning, this isn’t some conspiracy theory of, “Oh, it’s Jews, they’re hiding it.” No, this is the Jews saying, “This is what we did.” This is what they did.

Keith: “With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? Who taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge?” You know it’s funny, as I’m reading this, I just have to be honest with you, as I read this section in Isaiah I always think about Job. More from the perspective of Yehovah coming to Job and saying, “Now, were you there when I did this and did you do this…?”

Nehemia: Oh absolutely, Job 38 through 40, please, that’s homework, go read those chapters.

Keith: Yes, you got to read those chapters.

Nehemia: It’s a series of rhetorical questions. “You want answers?” He’s saying to Job.

Keith: You want the truth?

Nehemia: “You want the truth? You can’t even understand the world around you, how can you understand Me, who is an eternal being?”

Keith: Man, oh man, that’s amazing. And again, that’s Yehovah speaking.

Nehemia: Job 38 through 40.

Keith: “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck.

Nehemia: I love that phrase, “drop in a bucket.” That’s an expression we have today.

Keith: Yeah, absolutely. So here is the question - for you, Nehemia, as you’re reading through this, what would be the part that you would say that would be a good challenge for people?

Nehemia: A challenge?

Keith: In other words, for me, for example, 21 is…

Nehemia: I have to talk about 18.

Keith: Yeah, go ahead.

Nehemia: It says, “Ve’el mi tedamyun El uma dmut ta’arkhu lo,” “to whom shall you compare God, and what is the image that you shall make like Him/assess Him/describe Him? And I think of Deuteronomy chapter 4 verses 15 to 16, and I should tell people, we’ve been putting out these Prophet Pearls, and we’ve asked people to contribute original artwork. And we’ve had some amazing artwork that people have submitted, but there have been a couple of them where I had to send it back to the people and say, “I can’t accept this, and the reason I can’t post this is because of Deuteronomy 4:15-16.” Let me read it.

It says, “You saw no form of any kind the day Yehovah spoke to you at Horev out of the fire. Therefore, watch yourselves very carefully so that you do not become corrupt, and make for yourself an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman.” And so there have been people who were very well-meaning, they had nothing negative, they were really devout people, and they sent me an image and it had Yehovah represented as a man, and I said, “This is a beautiful work of art, but I can’t use this because this is a violation of Deuteronomy 4:15-16.” And they said, “Oh wow, I’m so glad you pointed that out, because I never thought of it that way.” But there it is.

Now here is the really interesting thing. And in this I’m going to challenge the Christians. You close your ears, Keith. Now, Christians of course will have… not in every church, but in many churches they’ll have some sort of image of Jesus, or Yeshua, who… in Christian doctrine you have the Trinity and they say is God. So if he’s God, how can we have an image of him? And this is a really interesting thing that I’ve encountered here in Israel. I’ve heard this from Christian tour guides and from people who have been on tours. This is a standard thing you’ll hear from many tour guides, speaking especially to Catholic groups, but not only. They’ll say, there’s a story of Matthew 15:22 where the Canaanite woman comes to Jesus and there’s that whole interaction, but here’s the part the tour guides add in, and they say this is tradition, I don’t know what the sources are, but they say that. They say that in Matthew 15:22 this Canaanite woman asked Jesus for permission to make a statue of him to worship. And that according to the tour guide legend, Jesus - this is how they say it - gave her permission, and this permission now extends to all icons and images of Christ. [laughing] This is how it’s described by tour guides. Now, of course this isn’t even in the New Testament, but it shows that people in the church are aware of the problem of these icons, of these images of what they say is God. And by the way, in the Greek Orthodox Church, there were these huge fights… did you learn about this in Trinity Evangelical Divinity School?

Keith: Do I open my ears yet?

Nehemia: You can listen now.

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: And this is a real question, Keith. Did you learn in Trinity Evangelical Divinity School about the fight within the Greek Orthodox Church between the iconoclasts and the iconodules?

Keith: No, tell me about it.

Nehemia: Ok, so the iconoclasts were people who took Deuteronomy 4:15-16 very seriously and they said, “What have we been doing for hundreds of years having a statue of God? How can we do that? We come, we burn incense to a statue of God and we pray to a statue of God. What about Deuteronomy 4:15-16?” This is in the Greek Orthodox church.

And there were wars fought, literally wars and battles fought over the iconoclasts, who destroyed... and today “iconoclast” is an expression in English, but literally it meant they destroyed the icons. And the opposite group was called the iconodules, from the word “dula” or “dulos” in Greek, which means “a servant,” the slaves of the icons. And they call themselves that as a sign of honor. For example, in 730 AD there was a guy named Leo III the Isaurian, who was the emperor of the Byzantine Empire, that is the Eastern Roman Empire.

Keith: We know him.

Nehemia: You know Leo III the Isaurian?

Keith: Yeah. [laughing]

Nehemia: Okay. How do you know him? Oh, you’ve never heard of him, alright. He began the first iconoclast reformation to remove the idols from the Greek Orthodox church. The result were these violent clashes. The iconodules’ final victory was declared on March 11, 843 at something called the Synod of Constantinople - they don’t teach this at Trinity Evangelical? Synod of Constantinople declaring icons legitimate.

Now here is the really interesting thing. This event, the Synod of Constantinople on March 11, 843 AD, is celebrated to this day every year in the Greek Orthodox Church. It’s the first Sunday of Lent, and it’s called the Feast of Orthodoxy. And what all this tells me is, even in the Greek Orthodox world there were people who read this verse, Isaiah chapter 40 verse 18...

Keith: And tried to figure it out.

Nehemia: And Deuteronomy 4:15-16 and they said, “Wait a minute, what are we doing? We’ve got a statue of God? We’ve got a painting of God? We’ve got this golden image of God and we’re burning incense to Him and we’re praying to the idol, to the statue? What’s going on?

So this was an issue even within the church, and you know, the Tanakh is very clear. Don’t make an image of God, not a painting, doesn’t matter if it’s beautiful art, don’t do it! “There’s nothing that you can liken to Me,” He says. That’s the point of 40:18. There’s nothing like Him, no image, no likeness.

Keith: And I think that’s where, if I can say, the natural application continues, and Isaiah does a great job in this. He says, “As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,” we already talked about this before, “a goldsmith plates it with gold and a silversmith fashions chains of silver. He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot, he seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter.”

So before we get into the next phrase, application seems to be pretty clear. Don’t create these things that are…

Nehemia: Wait, no Christmas trees, is that where you’re going with this?

Keith: I’ve already talked about that. No idols, no gold, no silver, et cetera. It’s hard to be in Israel, I will tell you this, and you go into different churches, because depending on which church and which background the church is, we’ve been in places together where… I don’t know if people know that you’ve gone with me.

Nehemia: Yes, into some churches.

Keith: Yeah, you go in and you see it and it really is hard how people are treating… [laughing] and one of the struggles that I have is you go into one place they say, “Take your hat off.” You go into another place, they say, “Put your hat on.”

Nehemia: Literally. [laughing]

Keith: No, literally. Take your hat off, put your hat on. Oh my goodness.

Nehemia: [singing] “Tradition, tradition!”

Keith: Anyway, “but do you not know?” And actually, Nehemia, this is what we talked about later when we were in episode 3. “Do you not know, have you not heard?” This is actually in that section. “Do you not know, have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth.” What does that mean? Wow. “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth”?

Nehemia: What do you mean, “what does it mean”? You look up in the sky… if you’re on top of a hill and you look around you see 360 degrees; you see a circle.

Keith: “...and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain? And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.”

Nehemia: Mmm… grasshoppers… delicious. Wow, I’m done. [laughing] I’m ready to pray.

Keith: Are you really?

Nehemia: Oh, you’re praying.

Keith: No, no, no, it’s my turn but you know what? I want to ask people to do something, and I know we say this each week. We didn’t have our Ministry Minute, we didn’t have it last week, either. We didn’t talk about it last week, we didn’t talk about it this week.

Nehemia: Tell us about your ministry, Keith Johnson.

Keith: No, no, no, so what I wanted to do is this. What I love about the concept of going through this is that you can get so much depth from each word if you want to.

Nehemia: Oh my gosh, we can spend the whole time on the word “grasshopper”. I mean, I literally could spend 45 minutes on grasshoppers.

Keith: You really could.

Nehemia: They’re very delicious.

Keith: Oh my gosh. Or what we could do is, we first try to get the big picture, and then you start going, you know, step by step by step. I’m actually going to ask people to do me a favor. Because at this point, we’re into August, I believe, we’re just about at the end of July or the beginning of August, and by now we have many, many people…

Nehemia: August 1.

Keith: ...that are learning to take bite-sized pieces of Scripture and to learn it. I will say something really interesting. I’m here past time, so by the time you hear this, here is what will have happened. We will have created the entire curriculum and you’ll be looking at it, but we need your help. We need people to actually go through it and make it better, because soon at the end of Prophet Pearls, when we finish Prophet Pearls, and it’s time for the second cycle, we want to actually make this public for people so that they can just go in and start digging in themselves, and use Prophet Pearls and Torah Pearls and Scripture Bytes and all the series and all these things together so that when we start talking about something like, “This is what the grammatical structure is, and this is what the word is and this is what the vowels are,” a person can actually use the information to connect.

So go to BFAInternational.com, on the front page it will still be up. Scripture Bytes, it’s basically a biblical Hebrew audio course that’ll help you use some of that information to do what it is that Nehemia and I are doing. Not at the same level, because this guy… Nehemia, I don’t know how many years you’ve been involved…

Nehemia: Trinity Evangelical Divinity School you went to.

Keith: We’ve got all these things, but I want to say in humility, one of the things that’s a blessing for me is to continue to learn.

Nehemia: Yes. Amen.

Keith: And that’s part of the process.

Nehemia: It’s a lifelong process. And here is my Ministry Minute. Go over to nehemiaswall.com, go to this week’s episode, Isaiah 40:1-26, and post one comment. I don’t care if it’s a comment that somebody else has said. Read the passage, these 26 verses, pray about them and then post one impression, one thought, anything. So my Ministry Minute is for you to be part of the ministry, to come to the website and share your feelings, your thoughts, your impressions, whatever they are. Please, just come and be respectful of others, always, and share what you have, whether it’s one line or whether it’s the ten-page thing you want to post.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: Nehemiaswall.com. Also sign up for the free newsletter and become part of the Support Team. Get involved, be part of the ministry.

Keith: Let’s pray.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: “To whom then will you liken me?” This is what you say, Father, who can we liken to You? Who can be Your equal? There are none, for You are God and there is no other. You are the everything and so we come to You right now and we ask for Your humility to be people that would take Your word and apply it into our lives. We thank You so much for all the things that You’ve given to us and all those that You’ve sent to remind us of who You are. We pray for Your blessing and Your protection and Your diligence. We pray for diligence for those that are studying, that You give them diligence of heart and mind, and focus to be able to open Your word and to ask what it means for them. In Your precious name we thank You. Amen.

Nehemia: Amen.

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

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Related Posts: The Original Torah Pearls - Va'etchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) Torah and Prophet Pearls Hebrew Gospel Pearls Hebrew Voices Episodes Support Team Studies Nehemia Gordon's Teachings on the Name of God

In this week's episode we spoke about Eliezer Ben Yehudah, who began the process of reviving modern Hebrew. His fascinating story is told in the book Tongue of the Prophets.

  • Kim says:

    I loved your insights and contextual info into Isaiah 40:1-26. I esp love vs 3-5 which are very Messianic ! John the immerser quoted these as well. Since I purchased the Complete Jewish Bible by Stern, I cont to be amazed how much of the Tanakh is quoted in the Brit Hadashah (Tanakh vs used are in bold)
    Keep up the great work!! ♥️

  • Prabhu Philip says:

    Thank You Sirs

  • donald murphy says:

    can anyone declare the end of an exile, but the Creator??? Just wondering.

  • donald murphy says:

    I do not read any of the letters that contain any mention of jc or NT.

  • Courtney Abrams says:

    35:00 A reply to this question in the recording

    An example in Scripture where it said that women when around and proclaimed the good news is Psalm 68:11

    “The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng:”
    (Psalm 68:11 NIV)

    • Richard says:

      The word translated as women in the NIV is tsâbâ H6635 which is a masculine noun that means a large group of people, or company, as the KJB translates it.

  • Louis C Korkames says:

    At Nehemia’s drosh on we let the Torah get stolen, now we have to pay double. Don’t the thieves have to pay double? And who are the thieves, those who initially downplayed the Torah in favor of the oral Torah, rabbinical Jews. Would not they have to pay double?

    • Angela McKay says:

      Keep reading…the person to whom the stolen property was entrusted must pay double if the property is not recovered.

  • Tess says:

    Thank you for your teachings! Keith is So Very right — our “Christian” teachings and traditions are far off base, and it is Awesome to hear the word of the Father through Hebrew thought!! It is like “Living Waters” springing up in a dry, parched land. “He restoreth my soul.”

  • Louis Korkames says:

    I am reminded as far as women evangelists of the woman at the well this is New testament of course the woman at the well who went back to her City in Samaritan with the good news and also the women who went to the grave and found it was empty and ran back to the disciples with that good news.

  • Hsiu-o Yu says:

    Jerusalem has received double for all her sins for Israel is the firstborn among all nations?

  • Jan B says:

    I love the concept of “mevaseret” (the woman sharing the good news). I had not heard it before. Thank you, Nehemia for sharing that about the woman being chosen to share the good news. The evangelist. Such a blessing, this tidbit!

  • Dianne Achilles says:

    Yet another enlightening and enthralling Prophet Pearls. Today Raba. Shalom Shalom.

  • Nunya Biz says:

    Amein, after the Holocaust her iniquity sacrifice is accepted….Jer.16:18And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double;…7x7x7x7 yrs from 457b.c.= 1945

  • Edward Guardino says:

    Muy Bueno!

  • Anonymous says:

    This is a great supplement to Hebrew Gospel Pearls PLUS #6: The voice of one crying, “In the wilderness, prepare the way of Yehovah…” (Isa 40:3, Mat 3:3).

  • Donald Murphy says:

    Will your christian teaching never end? Kitty Corbert’s letter is correct.

  • Eric Nagel says:

    Here we are in the Wuhan virus quarantine and it’s the final day of Unleavened bread….WOW does this pearl touch my heart. Thanks my friends.

  • Cade says:

    Here is an example of women announcing good news: Psalm 68:12-13 The LORD gives a command; the women who bring the news are a great host: The kings and their armies are in headlong flight; housewives are sharing in the spoils;

    Is it not more natural for women to give comfort, or bring tidings of comfort? Mothers, nurses, midwives, are not women naturally of a more comforting nature and inclination than men? Are not these roles traditionally filled by women in all cultures?

  • Ted Craven says:

    Matthew 3:3’s recording of John the Baptist quoting Isaiah 40:3 but omitting 40:4-5 sort of reminds me of Luke 4:16-19 where Yeshua declares the fulfillment of Isiah 61:1-2 that very day but deliberately omits the last part of the prophecy relating to the day of God’s vengeance and comforting all who mourn. It’s generally assumed that the rest of Isaiah 61:1-7 will be fulfilled at the second coming. So it suggests that Isaiah 40 might be another case of a single prophecy being fulfilled in two stages.

    It seems to me that Isaiah 40:9 (proclaiming the good news) could relate to Yeshua’s first coming while 40:10 and following could relate to the second coming. It is interesting that the Church, whose primary job is to proclaim the good news of Yeshua is also spoken of as a woman: the bride of Yeshua.

    Regarding representations of Yeshua, John 2:19-21 says:

    “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.”

    So in that sense a depiction of Yeshua’s human body would be akin to a depiction of a temple and not of Yeshua’s divine essence. And like the Tabernacle, Yeshua’s physical body seems to have been unremarkable with no hint of the divinity within. So I suspect that it would be OK to depict His body provided that you don’t attach any spiritual significance to the image.

    However, if you are willing to shed blood over an image of Yeshua then you are treating it as something much more that just another statue or portrait and you have definitely crossed over the line into idolatry.

    All things considered, I think it would probably be best to avoid making representations of Yeshua, just to be on the safe side.

  • Andy says:

    Phenomenal study this week! Love the insight regarding the lady herald of besorah. Kfar Nachum meaning village of comfort- fascinating that the future Yeshuah would herald His ministry from there. Ayn keloheinu!! Barchu Yehovah

    • Klodjana Keco says:

      Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

      2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

      -It seems to me like this period is at it’s end! I hope that more hebrews awaken and understand that you cannot add to the TORAH, or to TANAKH;
      I’ve listened to some orthodox rabbis that do not mention Yehovah’s name, but they do refer to His Name as ‘Yod, Hei, Vav, Hei’…
      I’ve listened to some more rabbis that agnowledge that no book is above Torah…

      So, I personally can say:
      ‘Comfort o Israel, because Yehovah is the savior and he is going to accomplish everything that he has said’

      I can’t wait to see the day when more gentiles will grab hold onto a jew’s robe!

      Yehovah bless you Nehemia and Keith!

  • Hibsen Bros says:

    Thank you Nehemia for comforting the Jews and the Gentiles before Jehovah sends Yeshua again. Your ministry with Keith Johnson is essential and divine. just like Moses great faith in Yehova ‘pull-out ‘ the Israelites from Egypt. Just like Yeshua’s great faith saves many Jews and Gentiles believers from their sin/guilt. Nehemiah’ s great faith and revelations is making a straight highway throu the desert for our father Yehovah. Your ministry from the heart of Isreal (basement) is comforting many Jews and Gentiles, as we wait for the messiah. Thank you Nehemiah. Yehovah is with you us.

    Hibsen

  • Marilyn Nave says:

    Last night (beginning of Shabbat) I was asking YHVH to show me any unrepentant sin. Then I heard this message. I have been sharing publicly for about 6 years, crying aloud to the people of God. I do this mainly with memes that I create containing scripture and then provide commentary. One of the main subject matters I use is Jim Caviezel’s still shots from Passion of the Christ. However, YHVH spoke to me this morning in Deuteronomy 4.
    While I believe that YHVH did appear as a physical shape in the form of a man several times throughout the Tanak, I’m thinking that He still does not want this manifestation of a form of a man used to represent Him. I will take down my memes and not use them any more.
    Thanks guys.

    • Marilyn Nave says:

      But now I’m wondering if we use a picture of Mt. Sinai with the fire, is that still making an image of YHVH (the fire being the image)?

      • Reyes Nava says:

        Clearing away the spider webs (memes, pictures, images, etc.) takes little effort. The difficult endeavor is eliminating the spider (worshipping a man as God).

  • UKJ says:

    Thank you for such an interesting study, my comment on idolatry is as followed

    It all started with Yehovah taking Abraham out of Idolatry and ended with the ” seed ” of Abraham accomplishing it.

  • Barbara Jayne says:

    Thank you for the clarity on the history of the early days of the rebirth of Israel. Such beauty in your tears, as in the tears of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda.

  • Kitty Corbett says:

    I keep waiting for Keith (and other Christian listeners) to comprehend that the Jesus as messiah and/or son of God story is an ancient Roman fabrication created to form a new religion directing worship to a man rather than God. It is an extension of the pagan worship adopted by the Northern Kingdom and the very reason that they, the Ten Tribes, were early on removed from the Land. Nehemiah is too polite to point that out to Keith because the two of them have made a pact, neither tries to convert the other.

    The other “great” world religion competing with True Worship, or Leviticism, is Islam, created by the warlord Mohammad for personal gain and gratification. It was a big success, since there is intense jealousy of God’s favor being bestowed on the Whole House of Israel, Jacob’s descendants, and those who align with them, excluding Esau’s progeny and everyone else. Big difference is that Islam is at war with both Leviticism and Christianity and directs Muslims to kill everyone else.

    If Christians, however, who keep most but not all of the Commandments, would only remove the pagan aspects of their religion (human sacrifice, vicarious atonement, Sunday worship, Easter, Christmas, etc.), they would find that they are practicing True Worship aka Leviticism aka Judaism, and that they are very likely the Ten Lost Tribes, the major part of the Whole House of Israel. See the parable of the prodigal son, attributed to the Jewish prophet Yeshua/Jesus in the Christian New Testament. What will it take? I pray Ha Moshiach come in my day.

    • Dan says:

      Kitty; I think you are on to something – as I have tried removing all leaven I inherited (changing Shabbat, creating a Trinitarian model, cherry-picking thru the Torah). Years ago I heard Nehemia say Yeshua got a bum rap from the ‘church’ – attributing to Him things He never said, nor meant by interpretation (or counterfeit epistles). I also agree regarding the identity of some of the ‘Lost 10’.

  • Janice says:

    Tour guides who’d teach Jesus gave permission to make a statue of him – should be Fired! Should not make pictures of Jesus, as DT tells and also, no one knows what he looked like, so whatever picture you make is actually gossip, rumor and can lead many down a wrong path.

  • Carlyn says:

    Wow, wonderful study in Yeshayahu! I am singing the verses as they were put to music in Handel’s Messiah. “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. That her iniquity is pardoned.”
    Two thoughts I had were that in the New Covenant Scriptures there is a woman who flees into the wilderness for 1,260 days where she has a place prepared for her by Elohim (Revelation 12) which must be Israel. Could this, like Yochanan the Immerser, be one who cries out “prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness”? Also, did Yeshua refer to this when he said that those in Judea should flee to the mountains when they see the abomination of desolation?
    A second point I’d like to make is that in e-sword the Strong’s concordance shows that the word for “announcer of good news” is basar (H1319), not mevaseret. I checked my Hebrew-English Phonetic Bible from Hebrew World, and there is mevaseret clear as day! Just thought this is an important thing to note if there’s anybody using e-sword, or Strong’s. I hadn’t realized how much Hebrew we miss out on by using Strong’s, and completely different root words!
    On the other hand basar is given as being a primary root: to be fresh, i.e. full, (rosy, cheerful); to announce (glad news). And the meanings supplied are the following: messenger, preach, publish, show forth, (bear, bring, carry, preach, good, tell good) tidings. So I guess the meaning is similar.
    Todah Nehemia and Keith for the beautiful teachings you share with us! Praise YHVH! Now on to Torah Pearls…

  • Nancy Arevalo says:

    I love these broadcasts! I love the history lessons, the trivia, the translations. I love it all. I pass these around to my friends!

  • jeffrey says:

    These verses sing to my soul.

  • Chica says:

    I get a bit crazy when Nehemiah talks about reading how Christians have images of God or Jesus. My church has no statues or images of God. Neither are we trinitarians. Jesus is Yehovah saves! We are 1 God Christians. We are kind of like Kerite Christians, we do not go by the craziness of trinitarians or Catholics, but believe Yehovah saves in the flesh he came and visited us in.

    • Janice says:

      Can your crazyess fathom, that Nehemiah is speaking in general? Not necessarily about YOU?

      • chica says:

        Yes. Its not well known there are 1 God Christians. I believe יהוה when it says, “my glory will I not give to another”. Jesus is Yehovah manifest in the flesh or a liar. Totally know Nehemia is not talking about me every time he mentions Christianity. And yes, I would say I am very insignificant in this world, not about me at all. שלום

    • Marko Ristaniemi says:

      Can you please then explain how on Jesus baptism He was in the water, God the Father spoke in Heaven and the Holy Spirit assended in to Him? Further more, Jesus say that the Father is greater than Him. What strange things to happen and say, if God is not three persons in one. Would require sone heavy editing of the Bible to remove trinity.

  • Carlos Fernandez says:

    “Description
    The fascinating story of the courageous Jewish scholar. Eliezer Ben Yehuda devoted his life to MAKING Hebrew the language of Palestine and to furthering the establishment of a Jewish state there.”

    Above is the description given to Eliezer Ben Yehuda’s book “Tongue of the Prophets”. The word “MAKING” gives a false impression; it should say “RESTORING”.

  • Paula Katipana says:

    This Prophet Pearl as well as the Original Torah Pearl was too short. I know you gave us home work but as you yourself said, you could dwell on each phrase and almost every word in this portion, and never finish it. THANK YOU both for taking the time though.
    I remember reading verse 1 for the first time when I was young and having the sense of YHVH’s heart of compassion, mercy and forgiveness. I loved how Nehemia brought out the meaning of the female announcer of good news, which is sadly contrasted by the image of the gossip often a woman. it actually teaches us women that we have the potential to be either.
    There is so much more………………..

  • Laurie Freeman says:

    Isaiah 40:1-26 Whoa!

  • Linda Nadal says:

    Always blessed listening to these messages. Loved that it was women telling the good news and the history of Eleazar BenYehuda. Thank you for developing these and sharing them with us.

  • Great lesson!

  • Simon Greatwood says:

    Job. He (GoD) sits above the circle of the Earth. You didn’t realise that proves the planet was a ball, round. No flat what man thought. This is 3 thousand years before Columbus sailed around the world.

    • Carlos Fernandez says:

      Flat earthers take this to mean that the earth is a round flat circle (a pancake) and not a globe. Im not a flat earth subscriber but In all honesty it doesn’t say earth is a globe.

  • angi143 says:

    First of all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Nehemiah and Keith. I have been listen for about 3 months now and I have never been so excited about the word of the Lord. I have never been so in love with the Father. And I am so excited about the new journey I am on. SO-

    I just wanted to throw something out there……when we read about the women….and back in those days it was the job of the woman to proclaim the news. I INSTANTLY thought about how when Yeshua revealed Himself to Mary at the empty tomb…… and then she ran back to the disciples to tell them the “good news”, that He had risen.

    We often hear it is because “Mary may have been His favorite disciple” and things of that sort, to be the reason He revealed Himself to her first. But it may have simply been because of tradition….. it was the woman’s role to tell the news 🙂

    Just a thought.

    • aurorekeath says:

      Also Yeshua engaged in conversation the woman at the well in Samaria, she was the very first evangelist. As a result of her testimony, the entire city came out to see Yeshua for themselves, speak with him to see if what the woman had said was true…..and they invited him to stay with them for a few days.. And the whole population of the city became believers. A very impressive job of testifying, I must say!

    • Nancy Arevalo says:

      Wow, that is a great point!

  • Maryann Robinson says:

    I had to stop the teaching at the news the women announced the coming of our Lord, our G_d. I leap with joy at this knowledge, I proclaim Jehovah’s name loudly, because here in the United States, I have been feed nothing but sorry, me and my people. My heart wrenched with tears, because they are no more, but why? What had they done but let deceiving men come into their lands, and kill them, that sounds like what I am hearing in Isaiah.
    The history books in the United States the history books are a lie, unless it had been re-written to tell the truth.
    My people come up out of Mexico, before it became a Territory, I have found that it is a hidden, and stolen history, of the African Spaniard, the Coptic Jew’s, in Mexico; would you know of the story, they made them Christians, so that they could come into Texas Territory, once the States were formed. My grandfather, his name was Moses Mitchell, he fled these territories probably during the Dakota Wars, he came back with his family, and they took his land because he married her, a African Spaniard. And so here in America, the name of YeHoVaH, is proclaimed out at my daughter’s school, in the neighborhood, at Walmart, Target, where ever I feel others need to hear it, when ever I need to hear it, I call out His name YeHoVaH,
    I ain’t got time to argue G_d. I know this, up in hear it is not to be trusted, without mining to find truth.
    O have been forced to research it on my own, or trust the one you I know, mot blindly, but the one who does the research.

    I know Keith, I can trust Nehemia, because I really know Pastor Keith. And, I pray YeHoVaH, our G_d, that He don’t leave my people hear, who ever we are, and ain’t that a shame, not knowing who you are genetically, and if you do someone would sure be there to refute your truth in this wretched place for people with a darker skin; and that is all I’m saying.

  • Alex says:

    Mevaseret! That is profound to me. I love to learn the history. Between the two of you my world is brought to a vivid realization of the history of God’s people. I could never uncover these mysteries on my own. You are both such a blessing, two witnesses that share with me. The encouragement and blessings I’ve received because of your great work. I am grateful. And thank you for praying for me. Thank you!!!!

  • Ezracha Bat Ephrayim says:

    Whose father is Joseph of Jacob, whose name became Israel (those who overcome with El)?
    Whose mother is an Egyptian, daughter of Pharaho?
    Remember your name and by Whom the promise was given, not because of works, but by the mercy and favor of your Elohim.
    Yah is good. Elohim blessed our father Abraham. Elohim said, ‘Look at the heavens and hear the messengers, and if you know it, tell me of their account. ‘ Know He has named them all. ‘So shall your seed be.’
    ‘Babylon is imperfect. Follow My son David and be perfect. Proclaim the good news, Moshiach.
    If you love me keep my Sabbaths. Rest in your Elohim, Creator of the shamayim and h’erets (the heavens and the earth), and the fountains of living water.’
    The judgment of Elohim is sure and right.
    ‘To the children of the promise, a double portion; not like the double portion, the cup reserved for the Whore of Babel, wormwood, for all her whorings, and for forsaking the Elohim of Israel and HIs chosen.
    Her nakedness has been uncovered, and all her priests with her.
    YHWH IS ELOHIM over all Elohim. His judgment is sure. Selah
    Come out of her My people. Come out of Babel and live, come out of Babel and live.’

  • nezwin23 says:

    Isaiah 40:10, 11 CJB
    10 Here comes Adonai ELOHIM with power, and his arm will rule for him. Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense is before him. 11 He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering his lambs with his arm, carrying them against his chest, gently leading the mother sheep.”

    These verses make me think of Yeshua…a lot of times when I’m reading Psalms, or other books of the Prophets, I read it as if Yeshua were speaking, or it’s speaking about Him. Who is Elohim’s arm, who is his servant, who is his son, who is the Shepherd? These are all references to Yeshua Messiah in my opinion.

    Proverbs 30:4 CJB Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has cupped the wind in the palms of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!

    Luke 24:25-27 CJB 25 He said to them, “Foolish people! So unwilling to put your trust in everything the prophets spoke! 26 Didn’t the Messiah have to die like this before entering his glory?” 27 Then, starting with Moshe and all the prophets, he explained to them the things that can be found throughout the Tanakh concerning himself.

    John 12:38-41 CJB 38 in order that what Yesha`yahu the prophet had said might be fulfilled, “ADONAI, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of ADONAI been revealed?” 39 The reason they could not believe was — as Yesha`yahu said elsewhere — 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they do not see with their eyes, understand with their hearts, and do t’shuvah, so that I could heal them.” 41 (Yesha`yahu said these things because he saw the Sh’khinah of Yeshua and spoke about him.)

    Revelation 22:12 CJB 12 “Pay attention!” [says Yeshua,] “I am coming soon, and my rewards are with me to give to each person according to what he has done.

    John 10:14 CJB I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me —

  • Dot Olsen says:

    I was delayed in hearing this but it was well worth the wait. This episode was very meaningful to me in hearing about Eliezer Ben Yehudah and his revival of Hebrew and the wonderful account of Herbert Samuel in the Hurva Synagogue in 1920.
    What blew me away, though, was learning about the word mivaseret in
    Is. 40:9 and that is is feminine. It immediately made me think of Israel’s calling to be a light to the nations. The beloved bride of Yehovah, Israel taking the good news to the nations that Yehovah is one, and the hope of the redemption of the world when in that day Yehovah will be one and His name one.
    May that day come speedily and may you both continue to be protected and blessed in your endeavors.

  • Susan Wright says:

    Hi Nehemia, Ki-Tisa was the last Prophet Pearl that you made a Hebrew reading of. We love to listen to your pronunciation of the words. Will you please, please, do some more for us.

  • Lia says:

    Thank you from New Zealand, looking forward each week to background of the haftorah portions and Hebrew language

  • Charlotte Gunther says:

    Torah Pearls was soooo long, but soooo good. Thank you. And Prophet Pearls was thrilling, especially the story of the 1920 reading in the synagogue by Herbert Samuel! Our God Reigns! And Eleazar BenYehuda. More Torah, less religion!

  • Wendy Sprague says:

    The story of what happened in 1920 helps to make the events in the Bible more real to me. Daddy (YHWH) is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I absolutely love Him.

    Thank you for sharing history.

  • Sandi Iventosch says:

    You asked for a comment, so here it is… I am comforted indeed. I no longer worry and fret over what seems to be a world gone mad, because I accept that Yahovah will use each one of us in the way He sees fit and to the limit of our heart’s willingness, in order to accomplish His purpose. How can we fear when we serve such a Good and Loving GOD? How can we not be comforted?

  • comforted says:

    we all really needed some comforting..
    moses..Isaiah..even me.

  • Benyahmeen says:

    Always appreciate the scriptures and comments!
    In defense of those that believe in Y’shua as messiah; one should look at Isaiah 40:5 “and all flesh shall see it together” as the complete fulfillment of latter day rain prophesied in Joel chapter 2. In Isaiah 40:6 right after that then declares Yehovah,”all flesh is grass”… “the breath of Yehovah blows upon it” should be seen as the Day of the LORD/Yehovah…. my opinion of course.
    Thanks all!

  • Nehemiah, your observant rebuke should be blazed to all corners of Christendom! All the billions of images of Yeshua HaMoshiach, glaringly fly-in-the-face-of the Father’s will as revealed in His Ten Words. The Father wills for captive humans to be bought back FROM the house-of-slavery (disobedience of His Torah commands), TO freedom (freedom to obey His Torah commandments)

  • Reyes Nava says:

    I do not understand the concept of the female evangelist in verse 9.
    It appears that the feminine aspect is attributed to Zion and Jerusalem,
    as has always been done through out the prophets.
    Why is it a literal woman in this case?

  • Kari Evans says:

    I just want to say thank y’all! I enjoy the study every time I get to listen.

  • Anthony Garcia says:

    Yob 42:11

    וַיָּבֹ֣אוּ אֵ֠לָיו כָּל־אֶחָ֨יו וְכָל־[אַחְיֹתָיו כ] (אַחְיוֹתָ֜יו ק) וְכָל־יֹדְעָ֣יו לְפָנִ֗ים וַיֹּאכְל֨וּ עִמּ֣וֹ לֶחֶם֮ בְּבֵיתוֹ֒ וַיָּנֻ֤דוּ לוֹ֙ וַיְנַחֲמ֣וּ אֹת֔וֹ עַ֚ל כָּל־הָ֣רָעָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־הֵבִ֥יא יְהוָ֖ה עָלָ֑יו וַיִּתְּנוּ־ל֗וֹ אִ֚ישׁ קְשִׂיטָ֣ה אֶחָ֔ת וְאִ֕ישׁ נֶ֥זֶם זָהָ֖ב אֶחָֽד

    • Anthony Garcia says:

      Mat 28:1-Mat 28:10
      Jhn 11:1-Jhn 11:5
      Luk 1:38-Luk 1:56

      Here are some great verses that have the women bringing great tidings. (announcement)

  • Linda ElliotT says:

    May Yehovah bless you both in your comings and your going. The last few weeks I’ve been touched by a still small voice of gratitude that you, Nehemia are living the command of our one true YHVH that the nation’s willl know Him through His people. And Keith for following YA onto the common ground of two branches. The teaching through Torah and Prophet Pearls is such a blessing. (As are your books, sites and ministries.) I have followed Yeshua straight into the arms of Yehovah and it is a comfort indeed!

    • donald murphy says:

      many of us have followed the evils of Christendom. I hope NG friends come to this truth one day. I wonder, can the blind lead the blind and not fall into the ditch????

  • Thomas Mulville says:

    Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson thank you both so much for all you’re heart felt discussion on the Prophets covering Isaiah 40:1-26. “Comfort”,for it bring comfort to my soul.

  • I listen to Torah Pearls and Prophet Pearls every Shabbat morning, and they are a priceless treasure. At the end of the sixth day, I always eagerly await the descent of the Sabbath with anticipation and joy. This week, as Shabbat was descending, the Ruach Kodesh came over me and enfolded me, like the arms of a mother around her baby, and I felt the most intense, indescribable love wash over me. I said to myself, “THIS is going to be a SPECIAL Shabbat!” When you, Nehemia, told that story of what happened in that synagogue in the Old City in 1920, I was overcome with joy and I cried like a baby. Thank you so much. SHABBAT SHALOM!

  • Elizabeth Diegmann says:

    Isa. 40 has been a favorite chapter since I was young. It always left me with a sense of awe concerning the Father. With vs 12, I now have a mental image of the hand which holds the universe together, taking his pinkie finger and measuring off the sky. It’s a wonderful image which makes me truly laugh out loud. Thanks also for the history lessons. They help to give perspective on the Scripture.

  • Loved the dialog about comfort and especially the better understanding of the announcer of good news in Isa 40:9. I never really thought about the connection of a women bringing a word or news to the people. Thanks for all you do Nehemia. Be well.

  • Pamella says:

    This is the cornerstone verse Yah gave us for Roadside Ministries 25 yrs. ago. I’m just now understanding it for such a time as this. Good and helpful words for me this week guys. Thanks

  • John says:

    It is very refreshing to hear the different Hebrew words analyzed. Using different versions helps in seeing errors and truth. Thankyou.

  • jimmy fink says:

    This occured on 15 AV, which is said to be the happiest day of the year ! I am comforted to be a part of HIS people..

  • Ilse Fogelgren says:

    Isa. 40:6-8 (paraphrased summary)
    The voice said, “Cry out!”… And Nehemiah said, “Leave a comment!”
    “What shall I cry?”… And I said, “What shall I comment?”
    “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”
    “BUT THE WORD OF YEHOVAH STANDS FOREVER”
    Thank you Nehemiah & Keith… May Yehovah continue to inspire & bless you, as we are blessed with you… love you!

  • Karen Powell says:

    No matter how great, or how great a number, or what false forms of God people want to create for themselves and worship. No one can withstand him. The YHVH is over all and has be power to protect and reward his own and those who believe in and hold to him because he is the ultimate being. His plan will come about as he has planned it. So trust and faith in him that he will restore, revive and reward.

  • The early Christian’s understanding of the Gospel: The Kingdom of God

    Gospel: εὐαγγέλιον “good news” “good message”

    Isaiah 40:9
    9 Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
    10 Behold, the Lord Yehovah will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him.
    11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

    Isaiah 52:6-8
    6 Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am the one who is speaking, “Here I am.”
    7 How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
    8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, they shout joyfully together; for they will see with their own eyes when Yehovah restores Zion.

    Isaiah 52:20-22 (cf. Romans 10:12-17)
    20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed habitation, a tent which will not be folded; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its cords be torn apart.
    21 But there the majestic One, Yehovah, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals on which no boat with oars will go, and on which no mighty ship will pass.
    22 For Yehovah is our judge, Yehovah is our lawgiver, Yehovah is our king; He will save us.

    Matthew 24:11-14
    11 Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
    12 Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
    13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
    14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

    Romans 10:12-17 (cf. Isaiah 52:6-8)
    12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
    13 for “Whoever will call on the name of Yehovah will be saved.”
    14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
    15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”
    16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
    17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Messiah.

    2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 8-10
    3 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
    4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
    8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
    9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
    10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

    James 4:12
    There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy.

  • James Hayman says:

    Nehemia, do you think Isaiah 31:5 refers to the deliverance of this prophet Pearl?
    Isaiah 31:5 As birds flying, so will Yehovah tsavaot defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver and passing over preserve it. I edited the KJV English so any mistakes in the wording are probably mine. Jim

  • Mary Anne Crepps says:

    Had to go past 26.. my favorite…His understanding cannot be fathomed.

  • Brandon Palms says:

    My eyes always seem to be opened a bit farther when listening to the two of you read and explain the scriptures in detail. I try to glean everything I can.
    Shabbat Shalom!

  • Krys Hunter says:

    This is my comment: I love you guys! I love your camaraderie and obvious respect for each other. I always learn so much and was especially moved by Nehemia’s transparency and tears! Blessings, blessings, blessings my Brothers and true servants of YHVH! Shalom!

  • Ilana Elder says:

    Lovely Prophet Pearl. Regarding Is 40:9, a feminine evangelist performing Jer 31:22 prophecy: “for the Lord hath made a new thing on earth, a woman shall ׁ(סבב ) compass/court a man (for the Lord hath made something new on the earth, a woman shall go about, or shall protect, a man)” Wycliffe Old Testament/Noble.. Interesting definitions in BDB, could it mean “comfort”, turn, change, transform…? AND ׳הוה will put His law in their inward parts and in their heart will write it and be their God and they shall be the people of ׳הוה…and ׳הוה will forgive their iniquity (as you spoke about in Is 40:2). The modern day feminine “prophet” that comes to mind was Mary Baker Eddy, whose pure teachings accomplished much healing. Her teachings were altered though, like many prophets translations.

  • ella says:

    It was not until I was allowed a glimpse in my spirit of the majesty, enormity and greatness of YHWH that I truly accepted Who He is. These verses, along with many others in Isaiah, continue to keep alive that understanding. I can read them repeatedly without tiring. He is magnificent! Thank you both for your sharing the insight that He gives you.

  • Janet says:

    Comfort, comfort my people. What a beautiful verse. This is one of my favorites.