Prophet Pearls #12 – Vayechi (1 Kings 2:1-12)

King David's dying charge to Solomon - Prophet Pearls Vayechi (1 Kings 2:1-12)In this episode of Prophet PearlsVayechi (1 Kings 2:1-12), King David nears death and gives final instructions to Solomon in this portion that parallels the blessings Jacob gave to his sons. David’s “command” to Solomon to “be a man” and to “keep” the “Torah” yields strand after strand of pearls as Nehemia Gordon teaches on these key words—their  first usage, roots, forms, and the versatile ways in which they are used (and connected) throughout the Tanakh.

Johnson explores the only verse in Scripture where “commandments,” “statutes,” “ordinances,” and “testimonies” occur together and intuits why David chose them. Gordon provides insight into rabbinical and Karaite views on the Torah of Moses, the oral Torah, and also the theory of the “Hexateuch”—a view that Joshua completed the Torah. Regarding David’s instructions for dealing with Joab, Shimei, and the sons Barzillai, we learn additional context for each story—and why David selected these friends and foes for special bequeathals.

The last word of the Portion reveals that Solomon’s kingdom was established “firmly”—in Hebrew “meod” / mem-alef-dalet. Gordon closes with a prayer that the descendant of David will soon sit on the throne to keep and to teach the treasure of Yehovah, and that his kingdom will be established “meod.”

"Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son" (1 Kings 2:1)

I look forward to reading your comments!

Download Prophet Pearls Vayechi Transcript
Prophet Pearls #12 - Vayechi (1 Kings 2:1-12)

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

Keith: Well, folks, I cannot believe it. We are actually in a new calendar year, and I am in a new place, and Nehemia is in a new place. This is Prophet Pearls, Keith Johnson, along with my friend, chaver sheli, Nehemia Gordon. Nehemia, where are you?

Nehemia: Keith, I am, after a very long journey of nearly 2,000 miles, I have settled down for a time, as the Wandering Jew, in San Antonio, Texas, not far from the Alamo.

Keith: You’re kidding.

Nehemia: Nope.

Keith: Wow. And how did you get there? Tell me how you got there. I mean come on. Bring everybody up to date, you and I, we were… okay.

Nehemia: So last time they heard from us we were together at your house in Charlotte. You went off somewhere that you’ll tell them about in a minute, but I got in the car, drove in my 2002 Honda Accord and started driving to Cherokee, North Carolina, had an amazing experience there on the Trail of Tears. Then ended up going to Tennessee, through Arkansas, and then finally, the whole length of Texas and ended up in “San Antone,” as the locals call it.

Keith: “San Antone,” wow. Amazing.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Well, I’ve been on a few airplanes, trains, and automobiles, myself. Been across the ocean. Actually, presently, I’m in the most populous city in the world; you may hear some knocking on the outside. I’m in Shanghai, China right now.

Nehemia: Wait, you’re in Shanghai, China?

Keith: Yes. I will try my best to bring people up to date. There’s so much that’s going on. I’ll give them pieces. Right now, it’s the beginning of a new year, and so that’s where I am right now. And if there’s some knocking, folks, I’m just going to say right now - it was easier when Nehemia and I were in the same room together. We were recording together, we had our special computer, we could look at each other and talk. Now, we’re doing this technology thing, and it’s going to be a challenge. In fact, we almost didn’t even have the opportunity to do this recording. So we’re going to try our best, am I right, Nehemia? We’re going to try our best to do what we can to keep things going.

Nehemia: Yes. I came to San Antonio to the Alamo to make my last stand where Davy Crockett and that Bowie guy, whatever his name is, did it. What are you doing in Shanghai? Did you just go there because you were jealous because I spent a year in China?

Keith: Right, I wish that was the case. No, no, there’s been an open door here.

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: And really, what I want, I have to be pretty sensitive about it right now, so I can’t talk a lot about it. I can only say this, I did mention to folks, I actually was in the Philippines a couple weeks ago, and I was able to do that because I was actually in Shanghai, only a three-hour flight there and back, and there are some other opportunities like that in this region. And so right now, this is kind of like a base of operations. There are things that are going to happen from here because of an open door, which I will talk about as we go, and especially as things develop. But right now it’s a little sensitive, so I’m just going to have people keep praying for me. I know that you’re here, there, and everywhere; we’re both continuing to do what we’re doing but from remote locations, is that fair to say?

Nehemia: Yes. Absolutely.

Keith: Yes. Absolutely it is. So listen, we’re going to get started, Nehemia. But before we get started, I just have to bring something up. We’re going to be talking in this section that we’re going to be talking about. And it’s funny, we kind of talked about this before, and when I went to go and study this section, I had to kind of take a different look. So I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we do this, Nehemia - why don’t you tell us what the section is officially, and then we’re going to get right into it.

Nehemia: Well so this week’s Torah portion is Vayechi, which is the last chapters of Genesis, where Jacob is on his deathbed, and we’re doing the corresponding Prophets portion, where David’s on his deathbed. Obviously, that’s the parallel. Jacob is giving instruction to his sons, and David is giving instruction to his son, Solomon, and that’s what is 1 Kings chapter 2 verses 1 through 12.

Keith: Yes. The reason I say that it’s sort of connected is because we had done the section before with David and Solomon.

Nehemia: Yes, it’s really interesting. We did chapter 1 and we did chapter 3. Now we’re going back for and doing chapter 2.

Keith: So that’s why I say it’s really kind of an interesting approach here. I will tell you something, though, before we get started. I don’t know if you knew this or not, I don’t know if the listeners know this or not - we had a date about, let’s see, it would have been in December, which was 12/13/14.

Nehemia: We’re still in December.

Keith: Well, no, it’s January right now, Nehemia. What are you talking about?

Nehemia: We’re pre-recording this.

Keith: Look, I’m ahead of time right now.

Nehemia: You are on the other side of the earth. That’s true.

Keith: So listen, it was really interesting. There was a date that was called 12/13/14.

Nehemia: Oh.

Keith: The 12th month, the 13th day, the 14th, you know - 2014.

Nehemia: Yes!

Keith: Now, are you ready for this?

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: We’re never going to get another date like that in our lifetime.

Nehemia: Now is that in the Creator’s calendar, 12/13/14?

Keith: No, no. This is this has to do with the Gregorian calendar, 12/13/14.

Nehemia: Oh, okay.

Keith: We’re never going to get another…

Nehemia: So we could get another date like that. You could just make up a calendar out of the thin blue sky. It’s what Pope Gregory did. And you could say, “Today is year 14,” and like, I don’t know if you know the significance of that. All right.

Keith: Well, according to the Gregorian dates, you’re never going to get a 12/13/14, or nothing like that again in our lifetime. But it’s interesting because David’s about to go the path of all mankind. And so when we think about that from that perspective, it’s like, “Man, there won’t be another date like that.” So that means that eventually, we’re all going to face this really difficult time. I think it’s kind of a difficult time, kind of a scary time. But when David is doing what he’s doing, it’s really interesting. So can we get right into this?

Nehemia: Sure. If you’re going to bring up these calendar games, can I talk about something that people don’t know about? So it’s really interesting. I’m on a certain date on the Gregorian calendar and Keith is on a different date in the Gregorian calendar because he’s in China, which is apparently 14 hours ahead of San Antonio.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And of course, there’s this great scene where David and Jonathan meet, and they decide they’re going to meet three days later, and they call it the mo’ed. They say we’re going to meet at the mo’ed, and mo’ed is “appointed time”. But they set the appointed time, meaning it’s a meeting time. So Keith and I, audience, decided to meet at a mo’ed, and the mo’ed we decided to meet was 7 p.m. my time in San Antonio, and I said 8:00 a.m. in Shanghai, and it turned out that I got it off by an hour because, you know, people have just messed up time, and that’s why I love God’s time so much.

Keith: Yes, folks that’s as close as we’re going to get to an admission of a dropped ball, but that’s okay. It’s okay.

Nehemia: You’ve got these weird time zones in China.

Keith: Let’s just admit it.

Nehemia: It’s like the sun rises at 10:00 a.m. in western China. It’s the weirdest thing.

Keith: Well, listen let me say this, folks, you might hear some sounds in the background - that’s because I live in a very remote situation, a very remote place right now. There’s some knocking and banging and things like that. There’s just no way to get around it, because this is the mo’ed, this is the time we’re meeting. And for whatever reason, they’ve decided to do this at this particular time. So let’s get into this.

Nehemia: I think it’s a sign, Keith. I think it’s a sign that someone’s knocking on the door, and they want to come in and you must open the door and don’t shut it this time.

Keith: Yes, I wish it was a door, and rather, it’s outside the building structure. So it says this, Nehemia, it says in 1 Kings chapter 2 verse 1, “As David’s time to die drew near,” certainly, that’s got to be a different phrase in the Hebrew. It says here in my translation, NAS, “As David’s time to die drew near, he then charged Solomon his son.” So what does it say in the Hebrew?

Nehemia: What it literally says is, “And the days of David to die came close.”

Keith: Yes. They came close. So they’re coming close, and then here it comes. Now, this… I’ve got to tell you before we get started, we’ve got these wonderful people, folks, that have come alongside, and they’ve been Prophet Pearls Partners. And our Prophet Pearls Partners for this week are Leon Greene, Wendy, and Chuck McKay. These folks have been willing to come alongside and help to support this process. And really it’s interesting, Nehemia, what I love about inviting people to make comments and questions is that I think it’s the general approach that we have to Scripture, which is - let’s take a look at it and find out what it says in language, history, and context. I always love it when people can go to the obvious and then ask if there’s anything deeper, rather than trying to make something deep and then saying, “Let’s go even further.”

So what I appreciate about our friends, Leon, Wendy, and Chuck, what they’ve done is they’ve looked at the obvious, they’ve looked at it and they said, “Okay, so what does this mean?” And so you’re going to have to do some really difficult work with the special computer. I’m sure you don’t have this stuff on the top of your head. So can we go right into it?

Nehemia: Let’s do it.

Keith: It says here, he says, “He charged his son.” So he’s charging Solomon, he’s giving him… Of course, so this is what it says in English, of course, we’re going to look…

Nehemia: Now, what translation is that that says he charged his son?

Keith: I’m actually in the NAS version.

Nehemia: Is this like a situation where an indictment came down and he charged his son?

Keith: Isn’t that funny?

Nehemia: No. Like in the JPS it’s “He instructed his son.” In the Hebrew it says, “vayetzav,” “and he commanded Shlomo, his son.”

Keith: Yes. So what was interesting, for me, is when I looked at the fact that it says that he commanded him, immediately, I’m thinking, “Okay, it sort of feels more Biblical to me”, that he commanded him - you know, the commandments.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: But again, in English when it says, “he charged him,” it’s like he’s telling him, “Now, here’s what you have to do.” I don’t know - how do you see that…?

Nehemia: No, it’s a command. The first time that appears in the Tanakh… Actually, so first of all, in Genesis 49:29 we have, let’s see, we have Jacob commanding his sons. It says the same thing. And actually, what does it have in yours in Genesis 49:29? In Hebrew, it says, “Vayetzav otam,” “And he commanded them and he said to them, ‘I’m gathered to my people, bury me with my fathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave which is the field of Machpelah,’” etc.

Genesis 49:29, the same exact word. And obviously, it’s the parallel, the corresponding section. The JPS has “he instructed them” in both places. What do you have?

Keith: We have “charged” in the NASB. He charged them.

Nehemia: So he charged them, okay, and I guess charged could mean to command. Now, what’s the first time that word appears? That’s what I always like to know. “Vayetzav” first appears “and He commanded,” when God is speaking to Adam, to mankind. And let me just see something real quick here...

So yes, Genesis chapter 2 verse 16. “And Yehovah Elohim commanded the man, saying, ‘From all the trees of the garden you shall surely eat.’” And he goes on to say, “But from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat,” and the rest of the story is well known.

So that’s actually the first commandment in the history of anything - God demanding man, “Don’t eat it.” He’s charging him. And it’s interesting because the Hebrew word for “testament,” like you’ve got “last will and testament,” so that word is from the word tzav, the word tzava’ah. It’s a commandment. And we’ve got the Old Testament and the New Testament, those terms, which I like… couldn’t even tell you what the Hebrew equivalent is, because there is no such concept in Hebrew of an Old Testament. I mean obviously, there’s an old covenant and a new covenant, although, in the Tanakh, we hear about the renewed covenant. So…

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: So God’s commandment, His covenant, His testament first appears in Genesis 2:16. That’s the first time we have God giving us a testament, and that is this testament of, “Don’t eat from the tree,” and they eat from the tree. And you could say, “Okay, well then there’s a new testament as soon as God commands Noah and he commands Moses.”

And the way I look at it is, this is God making a covenant with mankind. He made the first covenant here in Genesis 2:16. They could have - and I know this is off topic so I won’t go too much into it - but basically, they had an opportunity to eat from the tree of life. All they had to do is not eat of the tree of knowledge, and they could have eaten from the tree of life. And they chose to break the covenant. And then He gave them a second bite of the apple, so to speak, through the Torah. That’s how I look at it. And that is the testament of Yehovah Elohim.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: There it is. And now for the testament of David to his son.

Keith: Yes. So he says “And keep…” and Nehemia, I don’t know if you’d be willing to do this or not.

Nehemia: What’s that?

Keith: This kind of caught my attention. As we go into this new year, there’s so much that’s going to go on. I want you to always pick a Word of the Week. But there’s a Word of the Week here that I think is really interesting, and I want to know if we could possibly take a look at this word. It says, “Keep the charge.” Now, this verse says, “he charged him” in English. Now, it says in 1 Kings 2:3, “Keep the charge.” Now, what’s interesting is…

Nehemia: Wait, how did we skip over verse 2? We’ve got to talk about verse 2.

Keith: No, no. I’m sorry. I’m connecting it to 2.

Nehemia: Oh, okay.

Keith: Because he says “He’s going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.” That’s what he’s actually saying to his son. Let’s go ahead and do that. Let’s stop there and go with that phrase, “Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.”

Nehemia: Yes, so that’s pretty cool. “Be strong and become a man,” is what it literally says in the Hebrew, “and you shall be to a man,” which means become a man. So that’s really interesting. We have this expression in English, and can I say something a little controversial? I’m going to anyway. So American Western culture has been sissified. They’ve come along and said, “Oh, no, you can’t tell someone to be a man because men and women are completely equal, and therefore it’s sexist to say to someone, ‘be a man.’” But that’s what it says in Scripture, “Be a man.” And that’s what he’s saying, “Be strong and be a man.”

And here what it means to be a man, and maybe this is what you were getting at, and this goes back to Joshua where he says, “Be strong and courageous to keep the Torah”. And here he’s saying, “Be a man and keep the commandments.” Isn’t that awesome?

Keith: It’s amazing. It’s really something.

Nehemia: I love it.

Keith: I was going to do something that - and here’s what… let me just say this, folks, I want people that are listening, this year as we go into this new Gregorian year, I know that we’re in a biblical year, but as in this Gregorian year, as we start out Prophet Pearls, I really want people to be like these folks that are our partners. Because what our partners are doing is looking in ahead of time. They’re seeing what it’s saying. They’re asking questions. They’re making comments. I want people to do that with us. I want them to be like the Bereans, and to search the Scriptures to see what it’s saying.

And then, of course, one of the great things that we have the opportunity to do with both of us is they can go to the pages where they’re listening to Prophet Pearls and they can make comments. Those comments can be from the week previous, and they can be looking even at something that’s coming in the future. Meaning we really want people to interact with us.

But one of the things, Nehemia, I did that really kind of caught me off guard, and you’re probably going to think this is too controversial, but I’m going to do it. So he says, “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.” So I’ve got three sons, and one of the things that I did is I actually used this passage as early as in their high school years, the phrase of, “Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.”

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: What was interesting was that in the context, you just said it, what does it look like “therefore, and show yourself a man”? So that’s what the connection is for the next verse.

Nehemia: Wait, so before you get to do that.

Keith: But then I wanted to do something…

Nehemia: Sorry, go ahead.

Keith: Yes. I wanted to do something. So when he says, “show yourself a man,” I asked myself, where might David have seen this? Where may he have heard it before? So there’s a really interesting verse.

Nehemia: Come on. Preach it.

Keith: Well, no, hold on. There’s a really interesting verse.

Nehemia: No, I’ve got the verse. I’m burning to share it; but go ahead.

Keith: No, no.

Nehemia: You got it. Go ahead. Share it.

Keith: Well, I’ll tell you what, I’m going to give you…

Nehemia: No, go ahead.

Keith: I want to pass it off.

Nehemia: No, you do it. You shared this with your sons, so you got to.

Keith: So you have Joshua doing all these things, but then there’s a really interesting obscure verse in 1st Samuel chapter 4 verse 9.

Nehemia: There it is.

Keith: You saw it?

Nehemia: That’s the verse I was going to bring. Go ahead, bring it.

Keith: Folks, it’s really interesting, when we’re sitting in the same room together, we could talk or whatever. Now, we’re completely what, 7-8,000 miles apart and we’re looking at these verses and getting excited. That just says to me that there is something about it.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: But Nehemia, seriously what I really wanted to do is I wanted to see if you also looked at this and how you interpreted it.

Nehemia: Yes. So, can you read it? Go ahead. 1 Samuel 4:9.

Keith: No, 1 Samuel 4:9 it says, “Take courage.” And he’s speaking, here it’s the Philistines.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: “Take courage… therefore, be strong,” whatever, “and be men.” And so I asked myself the question, “Did David hear this? Was this a phrase that they used when they went to fight?”

Nehemia: Clearly. So go on with the verse. He says, “Be strong and be men,” it’s the same phrase, “become men, be men, O Philistines, lest you serve the Hebrews as they served you.” And then he reiterates it, “Be men, venilchamtem, and go out to war, engage in battle.”

So here they realize that what it means to be a man, in this context, is to fight. If you don’t fight, you’re going to be a slave, so you better go fight those Hebrews. This is a matter of… And when I read this, I get the image of - and I apologize to those who don’t like this particular person or this movie - but I get the image of another Philistine, Mel Gibson, who is in the movie Braveheart, and he goes out in front of the people and he roused them up and he’s telling them to go fight and they’re fighting for freedom. This is exactly what the Philistines were saying to their own people. “Go out. Be strong. Otherwise, you’re going to be slaves of the Hebrews.” And so what it means to be strong, in this case, and to be a man, is to fight. So now let’s tie it back into our verse.

Keith: Well, go ahead. Keep going.

Nehemia: Beseder. You did it. Come on. Go ahead. You brought it. Bring it.

Keith: No, no. We’re being so nice.

Nehemia: We’re now back to 1 Kings 2:2 and 3. Yes, go on.

Keith: Okay. So I was getting to is verse 3. But I want to let you finish too, because this next thing is going to take probably most of this show.

Nehemia: Okay. So he’s saying be a man, be strong and be a man, which is not about fighting, it’s not about war. David did that in his lifetime. For Solomon to be a man, to be strong, means to do what it says in verse 3. It means to keep the mishmeret Yehovah, the thing that Yehovah has given us, the treasure of Yehovah your God to go in his ways to keep His statutes, his commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies as it is written in the Torah of Moshe, et cetera, et cetera. That’s what it means to be a man.

So there is this phrase, “Be strong and be a man” with the Philistines, and they explain what they mean by it, they mean go to war. And David also explains what he means by, “Be strong and be a man,” it doesn’t mean go to war, it means, keep the Torah.

Keith: Amen. We’re going to unpack this a little bit, and I wanted to see if you would you be willing to take a look at this word, mishmeret?

Nehemia: That’s an interesting word.

Keith: Yes, I wanted to know if we’d be willing to let this be the Word of the Week.

Nehemia: That’s a tough Word of the Week.

Keith: Can you tell us what it is?

Nehemia: I don’t know.

Keith: It’s a very tough Word of the Week. But here’s why I want people to consider this…

Nehemia: I don’t know if I want that to be the Word of the Week. Okay. Go on.

Keith: You don’t like that one? You don’t like that word?

Nehemia: I think that might be too advanced for some of the people. What do you think? I don’t know.

Keith: Well, here’s why I want you to consider it - because the first word in 1 Kings 2:3, and then this word… There’s this really cool thing that happens all the time in the Hebrew Scriptures, where you can be reading it and you can see sort of roots and you can see connections, and it’s almost like a very natural thing. Like, sometimes you’ll say, “I can’t believe it says that in the English. I can’t believe it, blah blah blah. It’s obvious.” Well, it’s not obvious. But when you open the Hebrew and you see these things, they sort of jump off the page. So maybe we don’t want to make it the Word of the Week. But at least, give us the connection.

Nehemia: We can make it the Word of the Week.

Keith: All right. Go ahead.

Nehemia: So it’s mem, shin, mem, resh, tav. Every word in the Hebrew language has a three-letter root. The three-letter root is shin, mem, resh, which is shamar, meaning to guard. For example, when it says to keep the Shabbat, it says, “Shamor et Yom HaShabbat lekadsho.” “Keep the Sabbath to sanctify it.” It’s the same root - shin, mem, resh. It’s such a… I guess I’d call it a versatile word.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Which makes it difficult to translate. So the first time we have it is in Genesis 2:15, “And Yehovah Elohim took the man and He placed him in the Garden of Eden to le’ovda, to work it,” which is not what we were told in kindergarten. He actually worked in the Garden of Eden. “U’leshomra,” “and to keep it.” So that’s the same root, shamar.

So mishmeret is that which is shamar-ed, that which is kept. And so the Garden of Eden, man was put in it for the purpose of working it and guarding it, keeping it, whatever that means exactly. It means to tend it; stewardship over the garden.

The next time we have it is Genesis 3:24, where it has kind of a really different meaning. There, we have this strange flaming sword, which is “lishmor et derech etz hacha’im,” to guard the way to the tree of life, keep man out of there. So there it’s “guard” in the sense that we would think of, like a security guard at a bank. There’s somebody standing there to prevent somebody else from getting in. That’s not what Adam was doing with the Garden of Eden, he was guarding it in a very different sense. He was maintaining it.

Oh, man, “hashomer achi anochi,” “Am I my brother’s keeper?”, in Genesis 4:9, that’s the next time we have that root. So and we can go on and on and on about this root. It’s a root that often appears in the context of keeping the Torah, of guarding the Torah, maintaining the Torah. And then we have mishmeret, which is - and those are all verbs that we looked at - so the noun is mishmeret, “that which is kept.”

Keith: So it’s interesting, Nehemia, when you go to Genesis 26:5, and I always thought this was so cool. In Genesis 26:5, speaking of Abraham, He says, “because he obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My Torah.”

Nehemia: Yes. There’s that word “charge” again.

Keith: Yes. No, I mean, what’s so interesting about that is like, “Well, wait a minute, hold on,” the people that ask the question, “When did he get the scroll? When did Abraham get this scroll?” And I don’t want to go into great depth about it, but when I see that, I just get this image in my mind.

Nehemia: Wait. So tell the people which word is mishmeret, because I know that, I don’t know if they know. In Genesis 26:5, which word is the Word of the Week?

Keith: Mishmeret.

Nehemia: Right. I know that. But tell them in English from what you just read.

Keith: Oh. I have to open up my different - I’m actually looking at the Hebrew here. I’d have to switch…

Nehemia: Oh!

Keith: Here’s what…

Nehemia: He’s showing off. So the JPS says, “Inasmuch as Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My laws, and My teachings.” “Charge” in Hebrew is mishmeret. Before you were bringing the NASB, let’s just pull that one up just out of curiosity.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Again, it says, “My charge.” And it’s funny because the NASB had the word by “vayetzav,” which is the root of the word mitzvah, or commandment, as charge. And here mishmeret, as charged, is a different word altogether. The New King James has “charged,” the King James… wow, they’re pretty consistent. They all have “charged.” And the word is mishmeret, which is actually “that which is guarded,” “And he guarded My…” and some people translate this as treasure. I’ve heard that in Jewish sources. They like the translation “treasure”, because what do you guard? What do you put in a safe? You put something that you want kept, you want preserved, and so hence the word treasure.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: So I just think you…

Keith: Well…

Nehemia: Go ahead, sorry.

Keith: No, no. What I just think is interesting is that once we get to this word, when I opened up 1 Kings 2:3, and I wanted you to do something. I want to tell you, first of all, Nehemia, I really appreciate the fact that you have been reading the actual passage in Hebrew. If people haven’t gotten a chance to listen to that, you don’t have to know a word of Hebrew. Just the fact that you’re able to hear it as it was written. I just want to say how much I appreciate that. I love putting that up every single week. What I do is I put up you doing that and I take the picture that’s connected. And I don’t know what it is about it, it’s really wonderful. But in 1 Kings 2:3, if you were to read just the first 1, 2, 3, 4 - 5 words in Hebrew, when you read that, do you make the connection in your mind immediately between the words shamar and mishmeret?

Nehemia: Oh, absolutely. It’s a very common structured Hebrew that you have a noun and a verb that come from the same three-letter root. The verb describes the action of the noun.

Keith: So here’s what I wanted to say.

Nehemia: So it says, “Ve’shamarta et mishmeret Yehovah Elohecha.” And you will guard the mishmeret, that which is guarded of Yehovah your God, the charge, the treasure.

Keith: Yes. So what’s interesting, when I look at that, and then I look at my English, immediately I say, “In Hebrew, there are two words connected. And then in English, they’re not connected, keep and charge.”

Nehemia: Keep the charge. So it’s guard the guarding. So can I talk about a few more…?

Keith: Yes. Absolutely.

Nehemia: Since this is the Word of the Week, we’ve got to bring a few more verses just to flesh out this word, mishmeret, which you can translate as “charge.” I’m going to translate it as “treasure”. Okay?

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: It says Exodus 12:6 in the New King James, I’ll bring that now. “Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month.” So the word isn’t even there. I don’t even know what to do with that. “You shall keep,” it’s talking about the lamb that you take on the tenth and you keep it until the… It literally says, “And it shall be for you a mishmeret that which is kept until the fourteenth day of this month.” And the New King James just has “it”, I guess. It doesn’t even have it.

All right. The NIV has, “Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,” Yes. So it has “them,” “take care of them.” The JPS has, “You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month.” So again, in Hebrew, it’s, “It shall be for you a mishmeret, a charge, a guard, a treasure until the fourteenth day of this month.” It’s talking about paschal lamb.

Exodus 16:23, it’s speaking about the mann or the manna, which is collected on - and this is a really interesting verse, we should do a whole teaching on this - “He said to them, ‘This is what Yehovah meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath of Yehovah. Bake what you would bake and boil what you would boil; and all that is left put aside to be kept until morning.” And in Hebrew, it says, “And all that remains you shall place for you as a mishmeret until the morning.” It’s to be kept, something which is guarded, it’s kept, it’s preserved. There, treasure doesn’t really fit, but it’s the same concept. It’s something that’s put aside.

Exodus 16:32, it’s talking about a long-term mishmeret, not just overnight like it was in the previous verse. But here it says, “Moses said, ‘This is what Yehovah has commanded: Let one omer,’” that’s a measurement, “of the manna be kept throughout the ages in order that we may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.”

So where is the word mishmeret? It literally says in Hebrew, “And Moshe said, ‘This is the matter which Yehovah commanded, a full omer of it shall be le’mishmeret - as a mishmeret - for your generations.” So they just translated it as “kept”. They’re not indicating that it’s being kept as a treasure. They translate it as a verb and not the noun that it is. So it’s something that’s kept. It’s something that could be kept overnight, it can be kept for thousands of years, like the manna. So that’s really interesting.

And then Leviticus 18:30 says, “You shall keep My charge not to engage in any of the abhorrent practices.” And in Hebrew, it says the same as in our verse. It says, “u’shmartem et mishmarti,” “and you shall keep my mishmeret,” So it’s almost exactly what David says to Solomon.

Leviticus 22:9, “Ve’shamru et mishmarti,” “and they shall keep My mishmeret,” they shall keep My treasure, et cetera, et cetera.

So we have this quite a bit. It’s a common phrase, it especially appears a lot in Leviticus and Numbers.

Keith: This is why I wanted it to be the Word of the Week, Nehemia. That was was really interesting.

Nehemia: Beseder. But it’s really difficult to translate. So how are you going to translate this? Treasure? That which is kept? That’s a whole mouthful. Literally, it’s “that which is kept”, and it could be kept overnight; it could be kept in the sense of just observing it, and doing it, and maintaining it.

I’m going to bring up a point which is… it’s too esoteric, I won’t bring it. So Deuteronomy 11:1 says, “And you shall love Yehovah your God and you shall keep His mishmeret, His statutes, and His judgments and His commandments all the days.” That almost seems like David is quoting Deuteronomy 11:1; like, that’s really close to what he says to Solomon.

Keith: Well here’s what I wanted to do. Can we do something? Would you be willing to do this?

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: This is actually from our partners, and actually, it’s something that I was dealing with even at a little bit of a deeper level. I want us to ask the question - when you’re reading this, and you hear this word, “and you shall keep,” this word mishmeret. “You shall keep this, that which is kept of Yehovah your God.” And tell me if I’m right or wrong here - here’s how you’re going to keep it, “to walk in His ways.” So that seems to me when I hear that, okay, so to walk in His ways, this seems to be a way of living. In other words, there’s action to this. And how do I walk in His ways? Now, here it comes again, “to keep,” the word shamar, lishmor, to keep what? Now, here’s where I really need your help, Nehemia. We really need your help here. When you hear the words statutes, commandments, ordinances - it says in the NAS - and testimonies. What do you see as the differences? I mean why would David…

Nehemia: Oh, boy.

Keith: No, we have to talk about…

Nehemia: People have spun like, this theory about, “The statute is this…” and even the rabbis will say, for example, “A statute is a commandment that’s arbitrary.” And what do they mean by arbitrary? They give the example of the red heifer. Why is it red and not, I don’t know, blue? I was in Nepal and I saw blue cows. Why is it a red heifer and not a blue heifer?

Keith: Nehemia, wait. Stop for a second. Stop for a second. You’re color blind, you’ve said to me…

Nehemia: I’m color weak, I’m not colorblind.

Keith: You don’t know the difference. I’ve seen your socks, you wear blue and black socks.

Nehemia: I can tell all the difference between red and blue. I just can’t tell the difference between navy and black and dark green.

Keith: Okay, saw a blue cow.

Nehemia: No, I’ve seen blue cows, and it might have been a black cow, I’ll stipulate that. Or a green cow. I’m pretty sure it was blue. The point is, the rabbis say that’s a statute, something which is totally arbitrary, as opposed to a commandment, which makes sense. An example of a commandment would be “don’t murder”. I could figure out on my own not to murder without God telling me that. And so that, hence, is a different category.

Now, I’ve looked at these terms over the years, and I’ve not seen any kind of consistent explanation of the difference between a statute and a commandment, what you have as ordinances that actually is judgments, testimonies, I don’t know what the difference is, and frankly, neither does anybody else.

We first hear about these different terms over in Genesis 26:5, in the verse that you quoted, “Inasmuch as Abraham obeyed Me and kept My mishmeret, My treasure, My charge.” And it says, “Mitzvotai, My commandments, chukotai, My statutes, veToratai, and My teachings,” or literally “My Torahs”. So what’s the difference between a mitzvah and a chuka and a Torah? I don’t know, and like I said, neither does anybody else.

Keith: Oh, boy, oh, boy. Well, here I was all excited about this, Nehemia, and I wasn’t so much going into the issue of…

Nehemia: Can I share one thing that is wrong?

Keith: Yes, sure.

Nehemia: So one of the questions… I challenged the rabbis growing up, I said… you have the basis of rabbinical Judaism, the basis of Phariseeism that I grew up with, was that Moses received two Torah’s on Mount Sinai - a written Torah, and an Oral Torah. At first I kind of just accept this as a fact, and then finally, I said, “Show me a single verse anywhere in the Tanakh that says that Moses received an Oral Law,” and they weren’t able to. But then they said, “Well, our ancient rabbis interpreted Exodus 24:12 as referring to both the written law and the Oral Law.” And what does that mean?

So it says there, I’ll read you the JPS, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teaching and commandments which I have inscribed to instruct them.’ ” And so in the Hebrew, it says, “He will give him the Torah,” which just means instruction, and we’ll talk about that in a minute when we talk about the Torah of Moses, “and the commandment, which I have written to instruct them.” So the word “to instruct them” refers to the Oral Law, I was told. And the point is you have these different terms - Torah and mitzvah. And we can’t really say what the difference is between them. No one really knows, not even the rabbis with their Oral Law.

Keith: Well, one thing I really did appreciate when I was reading it. I just kind of went to the idea of David, and I thought, “Okay, so what do I know about David? And so what I know about David is he loved to write,” and my favorite Psalm that David wrote is Psalm 119. And when I went through that Psalm, I asked myself, so what’s David doing here? He’s talking to Solomon and he’s charging him, he’s giving him this “This is what you shall keep.” And what’s so interesting, Nehemia, I want people to do this for themselves, maybe you can make it even quicker. But what I asked myself, is whether there’s another time where David uses all four of these? Or is there another verse in the Bible where there are all four of these roots, all four of these words, in one verse?

And of course, there isn’t. David’s the only person who does this. But what I did was I went through Psalm 119, and what I loved about this was I was, like, okay, is David… and we could do this, I could go further, are there other books that have all four of them in one book? But what was really cool about Psalm 119 is that all four of these show up at some point in Psalm 119. I think one of them shows up 22 times, one shows up 2 times.

But what was really interesting is I just asked myself, David’s about to die, let’s just be contextual here. He’s about to die. He knows that Solomon is the promise, the promise that God is going to fulfill His promise through the seed, and his seed, and you know who he’s got, Solomon. So what does he do? He takes these things, these words that he uses in Psalm 119, and many other places, but what’s interesting is that he’s the only person - and listen, if you can find this differently, I will be really excited - I couldn’t find another verse that had all four roots in one verse, all four of these words, other than David using it.

And so what was so cool about it is I thought, “What does David want to communicate?” So maybe there isn’t a difference between the mishpat and there isn’t a difference between that and the statute and the judgment. So what does he tell Solomon? Hey, there are only a few things you’ve got to remember. Remember this. And so he takes each of these words and he pounds them into Solomon. I mean, if Solomon reads in Psalm 119, if Solomon’s reading in different parts of the Psalms, if he goes back and his father’s dead, he’s going to hear over and over and over again about these charges and these statutes and these commandments.

And it’s really sad, because we can go really further into this, but how long did Solomon keep the charge? I mean initially, he had it, he understood it, and then over time, he didn’t continue to do what David told him to do. That’s another discussion.

But I just thought it was really interesting, Nehemia, that David is the one who pushes this concept in his writings, in those Psalms that he’s written. And again, I couldn’t find any other verse. Now maybe, like I said, you could probably tap, tap.

Nehemia: No, That’s the only place according to my computer program in the Tanakh that has those four in one verse. But about Psalm 119, for those who don’t know, first of all, it’s the longest chapter in the Bible. Psalm 119 is a psalm about the Torah. It’s about the commandment of Yehovah in the Torah, and ancient Jews looked at that and they said there are ten different words for the Torah in this chapter. And we could do a whole teaching just on what those ten words are. You just put your finger on four of them. But it’s been argued that every single verse of Psalm 119 refers to the Torah in some way or another. For example, verse 1 actually just says the Torah. Verse 2 says “eidotav,” His testimonies. Verse 3 says His ways. Verse 4 says “pikudecha,” your precepts, or really, your commandments. So it’s pretty cool, a pretty cool psalm.

Keith: Can I say tell you something funny?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: I’ll tell you something funny when I came to Israel, Nehemia before I knew you…

Nehemia: I remember this.

Keith: Before I met you. This was my big deal. I was trying to get reacquainted with Hebrew, and so what I did is I decided to go through Psalm 119. And what was really interesting, I just have to tell you, is that I was going through those verses, and I think I only found two, maybe three verses where I couldn’t find a word to describe something about the Torah in the entire Psalm.

Nehemia: So we’ve got to look at those 2-3 verses.

Keith: Yes, how many verses are there again?

Nehemia: A ton of verses. I don’t know. Let’s see, I’m looking.

Keith: Anyway and our friends brought this up also.

Nehemia: 176 in the Hebrew.

Keith: 176. But the interesting thing about it is David is saying, “Listen, Solomon, I’m going to take these four concepts and make sure you understand these four concepts in this one thing. This is what you’re to do - you’re to keep this charge to walk in His ways. How will you do it? By keeping it.”

Let me please read it in English here for our folks that are looking in the English Bible, “to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies,” and then we get to, “according to what is written in the Torah of Moses.” I just think that’s, I mean if you didn’t get it, he’s going to get it there. Make sure you understand what’s in the Torah.

Nehemia: So can we talk about that phrase, “the Torah of Moses”?

Keith: Absolutely, yes.

Nehemia: Okay. So that’s a pretty cool phrase. So here’s something we have to point out; the word “Torah” simply means “instruction.” And what exactly is the difference between instruction and commandment? That’s not entirely clear, but we see examples of it. For example in Leviticus 6:2, “This is the Torah of the burnt offering.” “This is the Torah of the flour offering,” in Leviticus 6:7. In Leviticus 6:18, “This is the Torah of the sin offering.” So it seems to have this sort of ritual connotation, although maybe not.

Exodus 12:49 says, “There will be one Torah for the native-born, and the sojourner who sojourners among you.” Now, what does Torah mean in that verse? Because Torah has two, really, related but different meanings. One is in the narrow sense of a specific commandment, or a specific set of commandments, like the commandments concerning the burnt offering. And maybe Exodus 12:49, when it says, “one Torah for the native-born, and the sojourner,” it referring to the way that the Passover sacrifice is brought, because that’s what it’s talking about in Exodus 12. Or maybe it means one Torah in the sense of the collective body of divine instruction, and that collective body of divine instruction, that is called Torat Moshe, the Torah of Moses, or Torat Yehovah, or a few other variations of that.

For example, Exodus 13:9 it says, “It shall be a sign upon your hand, and a memorial between your eyes, in order that the Torah of Yehovah will be in your mouth.” So there, “Torah of Yehovah” isn’t a specific commandment, like a ritual commandment, like the commandment of the Passover sacrifice, or the commitment of the burnt offering. There, “Torat Yehovah” is the collective body of divine instruction. And there is where, of course, Karaite Jews and Rabbinical Jews will have kind of a disagreement. We’ll say, “Wait a minute, if there’s a second body of divine instruction that was given at Sinai, how come Torah, in that collective sense, is never referred to in the plural?” It’s only in the narrow sense, where we’ll have the Torah of the burnt offering, and the Torah of the Passover, there you’ll have a narrow definition or you’ll have a plural.

So I hope that wasn’t too confusing. But a few verses refer to the Torah of Moses. It’s pretty cool. For example Joshua 8:31, one of my favorite verses, and of course, from my perspective as a Karaite Jew, this proves there was no Oral Law. But that’s a different question. It says, “ka’asher tziva Moshe eved Yehovah,” “As Moses, the servant of Yehovah, commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the Torah of Moses,” et cetera, et cetera. So here it’s talking about that they’re building the altar at Mount Eval. Actually, the verse I was looking at that proves the written Torah is a different verse in that area, but whatever.

Here in Joshua 8:31, and that was actually a place… Now, did you go with me to Mount Eval? No, you didn’t, I went with Yoel. Have you ever been to the altar at Mount Eval?

Keith: Yes, I went by myself.

Nehemia: Okay. It’s a pretty cool place. It’s an altar described in Joshua 8:31. I’ve been there, Keith has been there, others have been there. And there it mentions, “As it is written in the book of the Torah of Moshe.” So there we have this idea that even in the time of Joshua, as early as that, there was a book called the Book of the Torah of Moshe.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: And then in Joshua 8:32 it says, “And he wrote there on the stones the copy of the Torah of Moshe, which he wrote before the children of Israel.” So next to this altar on Mount Eval, in northern Israel, it was at some time and maybe it’s still there buried, is a copy of the Torah of Moshe. So this was a clearly defined written book.

Another verse that has it is 2 Kings 14:6. It also says, “As written in the book of the Torah of Moshe.” 2 Kings 23:25 also mentions the Torah of Moshe. Malachi 3:22 says, “Remember the Torah of Moshe My servant.” Daniel 9:11, it refers to, “That which is written in the Torah of Moshe the servant of God.” There’s a bunch of other verses, I’m not going to bring them all. Now, let’s bring a different variation, which is “Torat Elohim,” the Torah of God, which is Joshua 24:26. And this is really interesting, it says, “And Joshua wrote these things in the Book of the Torah of God.”

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: So Joshua wrote in the Torah. And so what’s the distinction there? There’s this scroll, like literally a physical scroll called the Torah of Moshe, the Book of the Torah of Moshe, and the part that Joshua wrote is the Torah of God. Meaning it includes the Torah of Moshe and has this extra thing that we call the book of Joshua. You know, there’s the term the Pentateuch, or the five books. So some people call it a Hexateuch, or the six books, including the one with Joshua, based on Joshua 24:26. So Isaiah 1:10 mentions the Torah of our God, Hosea 4:6, and also Psalm 37:31. So four times in the Tanakh we have this idea of not just the Torah of Moshe but the Torah of God. And of course, “Torat Yehovah,” the Torah of Yehovah, we already saw that in Exodus 13:9, and it’s in a few other places.

Keith: I’ll tell you one thing, Nehemia, when I do think about that, this Torah, this instruction, and David does such an amazing job - he’s basically charging Solomon. He’s saying, “This is what you need to do.” And then whenever I get in Hebrew this idea, in English it says, “so that,” here’s the reason, here’s the reason why, “that Yehovah may carry out His promise,” and of course, we could spend the entire time just talking about what that promise is. But he tells him, “This promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’” Speaking about this promise that we all wait for, that ultimate promise, the messianic promise of the one who comes through the loins of David. But I did think it was interesting in Psalms 132:12, maybe you can check and take a look at this. Psalms 132:12 that he’s telling him, “Here’s the promise,” and then in Psalms 132:12 it says, “If your sons will keep My covenant and My testimony which I will teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.”

So I’m just thinking, again, of David as he’s laying there, and he’s got this promise. And I don’t know, does he turn over in his grave, as they say, when he sees Solomon all the sudden leave the commandments of God, and he sees as the sons of his sons, of his sons, of his sons leave those commandments. And knowing that here’s going to be the choice - if you keep them, here’s what’s going to happen; if you don’t, here’s what’s going to happen.

I know as a father, and I’ve seen you, Nehemia, where on Shabbat, and I know we talk about this, but this really touched me. It’s something that’s a tradition. But just the idea of a father touching his son and putting a blessing on that son, or on a daughter, or on a child. And there are the ups and downs of that. There are the times that you see your children walk it out and you’re excited, and there are times where you see that they don’t, and what happens as a result. So I’m just looking at this, and like, David is really clear in telling him, “Listen, there’s been a promise. Here’s what you have to do.”

Nehemia: It’s conditional though.

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: And that’s something that is emphasized in both, obviously, this verse and the verse you read in Psalms, and a bunch of other verses, as well.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: I wish we had time to talk about Jeremiah 33, where it talks about a descendant always being from the line of David, but of course, that’s in the context of this conditional. And I think, is that one of the Prophet portions? I don’t remember. I hope it is.

Keith: I hope so.

Nehemia: Because I really like that passage. But it’s definitely a conditional promise.

Keith: Yes. So here’s the deal, and I know we do have - I get a little bit nervous, folks, as we’re doing these recordings, that each one I have my - some people say their fingers are crossed - I just pray about it, because that we can get through the recording without any hitches. I mean I’ve got these people drilling outside.

Nehemia: Yes, we don’t hear that. Or I don’t hear it, anyway.

Keith: I’m so glad. But what… can we do something? Can we just move on a little bit?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Because there’s a switch that’s really interesting, you’re going to love this. The switch is he’s telling him “Now, listen, keep the commands, and keep it. Now, I’m about to die. Now, real quick, there’s some business we got to take care of.” He’s like the Godfather. We got some…

Nehemia: Wait, you’ve got to explain to the people who haven’t seen the movie. How is he like the Godfather?

Keith: No, no. I’m saying… So David’s about ready to… and he’s being really spiritual.

Nehemia: You’re not saying how he’s like the Godfather. So in The Godfather movies, in the second one I think, there’s this flashback to when he’s a young man. I think it’s played by Robert DeNiro. And he puts his finger up to his temple and he says, [imitating the Godfather] “I remember. I remember.” He doesn’t forget. So you’re calling David the Godfather? I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that.

Keith: No, no. Listen, what I’m trying to say…

Nehemia: So David’s like Robert DeNiro, and he’s going to settle the score, [imitating the Godfather] “I won’t forget.”

Keith: I think it’s really interesting, Nehemia. And again, you be the timekeeper on us here, it says here we’ve been going a little bit. But here’s the thing that’s really interesting, and I want to challenge people to do this if we don’t want to give it away to them, okay? Can I just challenge them on this?

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: This first part because the second part we’re not going to get out of here without you talking about it. In 2:5 where he says, ““You know also what Joab basically did when he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel.” And he tells them who the two commanders are.

Now, what I want to challenge people to do is this. I want them to take the phrase of the two commanders and to read the stories about what happened. It is phenomenal. Nehemia, like, I get really excited. You know me, sometimes I have to get up and walk away when I’m reading the Bible, and I walk out the door, and I’m like, “Ahh!”

Nehemia: He literally does that.

Keith: And I get excited. But here’s what excited me about this is that if I just read this verse, it’s a casual little thing. “Hey, don’t forget what Abner did,” and you know you want to move on.

Nehemia: What he did to Abner.

Keith: But here’s what I did.

Nehemia: What Joab did concerning Abner, yes.

Keith: So what I did was, as I went through, every time that I saw the word Abner, and I went through every time that I saw the word of the commanders, and you know what? It paints a really, really deep picture about why this is such an issue for David. I mean, literally, I’m just saying, you could take a kind of casual approach and just say David had this one little thing happen. These are like really major things that took place, and like I said, we could do a show, we could literally do a show on why David is telling Solomon to address the issue of Joab.

Nehemia: So here’s the more important question…

Keith: I challenge…

Nehemia: Go ahead, sorry. Finish what you’re saying.

Keith: I just want to challenge people to actually do this. This as a part of a Bible study, where you take the word Joab and you find out how many times…

Nehemia: So we’re asking people to join us in this week’s episode because we don’t have enough time.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: You cannot say you’ve listened to this episode until you’ve gone and done this part of the study on your own.

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: Specifically, you need to be looking at 2 Samuel chapter 17, and that’s the issue of Amasa. Read that whole chapter, 2 Samuel 17. That’s the story of Absalom, and you’ll find out what happened to Amasa there. And then it’s going to be in 1 Samuel chapter, let’s see. I don’t know, I’m looking for it. Just go on with what you were saying.

Keith: Okay. While you’re looking for those verses, people you can also be looking for these verses about what happens with Joab. But especially, as far as how it affected David, and how it affected how people saw David. And it goes even further, Nehemia, because he doesn’t talk about the other things that Joab did, in this verse, that actually probably affected him also.

Like, for example, as it pertains to his son Absalom. You get a sense, when you’re reading it, the weight of what David is saying to Solomon regarding this man. Now what I wanted to do, and I kind of wanted to give you the softball on this, if it’s okay…

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: I mean maybe you found the other verse you wanted to say what those are?

Nehemia: I’m looking for it.

Keith: That means no.

Nehemia: Go ahead. No, I haven’t found it yet.

Keith: It’s okay. It’s okay because there are three sections here. And I want to get to the one that I want to really have you talk about if that’s okay. Can I keep reading?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: So then it says here, as it pertains to him, it says, “He shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt… So act according to your wisdom,” and then it says this phrase, “and do not let his gray hair go down to She’ol in peace.”

Nehemia: She’ol, yes.

Keith: She’ol, okay. So what’s that talking about, Nehemia? What is She’ol?

Nehemia: She’ol is the realm of the dead, and if you go and read Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verses 1 through 10, it describes what happens with She’ol. Everyone goes to She’ol, the good and the bad. You’re in a state of sleep there. There’s no thought and knowledge and action in She’ol, where everyone is going.

Keith: Okay. Awesome.

Nehemia: And that’s why we read in, for example, Daniel, and other places, Isaiah 26, about the resurrection being described as being woken up, because the way it’s described in the Tanakh, you’re in a state of soul-sleep in Sheol until you’re awoken at the resurrection.

So the two sections to read are 2 Samuel chapter 3, about Avner, Abner, and 2 Samuel chapter 17 about Amasa.

Keith: Awesome. And then, if you have some energy and some time, look at some other passages there with him in their interactions, and you might even understand why this is such a big deal.

Nehemia: Right. Well, to get the context, especially about Abner, Avner, you need to go back and look at the interaction he had with Joab’s brother Asahel, who he murdered, or killed, I should say.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: So it’s a whole complex web. But here’s the question I have; so he’s telling Solomon to deal with Joab. How come he didn’t deal with Joab himself?

Keith: That’s such a great question.

Nehemia: What’s the answer?

Keith: I don’t know.

Nehemia: I think he wasn’t strong enough.

Keith: Ah. You don’t think he had…

Nehemia: Meaning, Joab was his general, and he was dependent on Joab. And maybe he was psychologically dependent on Joab, and he didn’t feel like he could do it. Now, the other situations we hear about, he gave his word he wouldn’t deal with them, and so he’s leaving them for Solomon in the following verse. But Joab? He didn’t give Joab his word. I think he was afraid of Joab. I think it pretty much says that -that he was psychologically dependent on Joab and didn’t think his kingdom would stand without this general. And once his son took over, okay, then it could be dealt with.

Keith: Wow. That’s interesting. That’s interesting. Well, the next person that we talk about - again, people can go and they can see this - it’s really a touching story for David, as he goes and finds people that will actually support and help him in the process of really a difficult time in his life. It’s interesting because then, at the end of his life, he says, “Now, remember, make sure that you treat this person, and not only this person,” but also I think it says here even his sons, am I right here? Yes, “But show kindness even to his sons Barzillai the Gileadite.”

Nehemia: Right. Because he was an old man even when David had the interaction with him, back in 2 Samuel 17.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And so the point is by this time, he’s got one foot in the grave, and so really the blessing is going to be to his sons.

Keith: Okay. Now, here’s the big challenge for you. Now, this is where I got…

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: I want you to go to 1 Kings 2:8. You did an amazing… Remember the teaching we talked about? You called it one of the best teachings you’ve ever did.

Nehemia: It was. Absolutely. The Shimei teaching.

Keith: The Shimei teaching! And it really is interesting, because we went to the issue of his name, and “Listen to me,” and all that. So David takes this really beautiful approach to let Shimei be Shimei. And then he gets to his deathbed.

Nehemia: [imitating the Godfather] “I remember.” “I don’t forget.”

Keith: He brings this guy’s name up. And so when you read that, what’s your thought when you hear that?

Nehemia: I think his point with Shimei is, “Keep an eye on this guy. He’s dangerous. Keep an eye on him. I gave my word not to kill him so I’m not going to touch him. You keep your eye on him.” And so he doesn’t tell him to kill him. He says, “You’ll know what to do.” And he says, “You’ll bring down his old age with blood to She’ol.”

And what happens - and obviously this isn’t in the portion so we can’t talk too much about it - but what ends up happening is he says to Shimei, “Look, you can live the rest of your life here without a problem, just don’t make trouble. Don’t leave Jerusalem, I want to be able to keep my eye on you.” And Shimei accepts this, and then he breaks the terms and he gets executed because he violated the order of the king. So Shimei had a chance to live out his days in peace, but Shimei was Shimei; Shimei was Shimei’s worst enemy.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And you can’t change that.

Keith: You can’t change that. So it’s interesting, Nehemia, I’m going to transition because we didn’t get a chance to talk… But imagine now, David is at the end of his life, and this has actually had me think a lot, Nehemia, about some situations that I’ve actually been dealing with over the last month or so. I had two people who actually died. One of them was a man who was a mentor of sorts. His name was Dr. Myles Munroe, and all he talked about was purpose and living your purpose. He said one of the saddest things is to go by a graveyard. You look in a graveyard and you see how many things are in that grave where people never did it, because they had too many excuses and issues, and they never really lived it out. And then the other one was a young man that I worked with, named Orlando Thomas, who died of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Both of these men died on the same day.

Nehemia: Whoa, what?

Keith: Yes. One in a tragic plane accident, the other one died at age 42 with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and he wore the number 42, and it was on his birthday.

Nehemia: Whoa.

Keith: And so as I was just dealing with these things, I thought that… what about David? And I thought about my own life, and I thought about ministry, and I thought about putting it all on the line, doing everything that I can do while I have breath. And then so when that day comes, if I have a chance to look into my sons’ eyes and charge them as David did, that I can also say I’ve done what God has called me to do.

And so that kind of leads to a little bit, I don’t want to cut things too short, but we’re going a little bit on. I want to give a chance to talk a little bit about what we are doing. I mean we’re in different parts of the world right now, but we’re still ministering, and we’re doing things that are interesting. So I want to hand it over. Can you update us on what’s happening?

Nehemia: This is the Ministry Minute, so you go first. Go ahead.

Keith: Okay, thank you. So for me right now, you know, it’s the beginning of this calendar year and we really had a push at the end of this last year to give people as many opportunities as possible. I have to raise a white flag. I did something really, really radical, and as of right now those that are listening can actually experience it. You used to make fun of us, Nehemia, at BFA, you’d say, “What’s this Premium Content Library?”

Nehemia: I still make fun of you. No, go on.

Keith: No, no, you don’t make fun of me. No. But let me just say something. We’ve decided to do something. We’ve had to realize one of the best ways for people to experience something is to give it away. And so what we’re doing now is we’re doing a seven-day free trial for people to actually go in and see what’s in the Premium Content Library.

Nehemia: Whoa.

Keith: If they like it, great, they’re able to support us through being a part of it. But if not, they cancel, there’s no harm, no foul, no risk to them. But one of the reasons that we’re doing this, is we just put up the Hanukkah special. We talk a lot about Hanukkah, but one of the things that’s interesting about Hanukkah is what the real Hanukkah is historically, versus what we see in American society, which I have to just give you a real quick thing, is that I read a site where they actually said that they called Hanukkah, “the Jewish Christmas,” and I was offended, Nehemia. What do you mean it’s Christmas?

Nehemia: That’s true. It’s 100% true.

Keith: No, don’t say that. No, no.

Nehemia: So Hanukkah, the way it’s observed today in America has little resemblance to the way it was observed, even when I was growing up, but definitely in the way when my grandmother was growing up. At the most, you might get Hanukkah gelt, which was a few dollars to go buy yourself a present. This idea of eight days of gifts? Come on, that’s a Christmas wannabe.

Keith: All I want to say is we did an amazing 30-minute episode. It’s available right now, you can watch it, no harm, no foul, like I said, no risk, great reward. But with BFA, what we’re doing is we’re inspiring people around the world to build a biblical foundation for their faith, and how we’re doing that is every opportunity Prophet Pearls, Scripture Bytes, the Hanukkah project, Time Will Tell, Now Is The Time. All of these things are now available, I think there are over a hundred available on our site, bfainternational.com. You can go and you can see them. And literally, it’s our way of saying, “Look, we really do need your help. But hey, first, why don’t you take a look and see if it’s something that’s in line with what you’re trying to do in building your faith. And if so, consider becoming a part of the Premium Content Library.”

That’s my Ministry Minute right now. That’s one of the things that we’re doing. And as we go throughout these next weeks, Nehemia, I want to fill in the blanks as far as what I’m doing in this part of the world with the doors that are opening to bring God’s time, Torah, and His name. So, thanks.

Nehemia: Yes. Hallelujah. Well, I want to just… You’ve got your ministry, Biblical Foundations Academy International. My ministry is Makor Hebrew Foundation, that’s M-A-K-O-R, Makor, that’s the Hebrew word for “source.” It refers to Yehovah being the source of the living water. And I just want to give a shout-out to my support team, those who have supported my ministry. The trumpeters who are standing with me on the wall, I call them.

And for everybody who’s listening right now, I want you to put down your cup of coffee, and more importantly, this week I’m going to ask you to put down your check book and put down your credit card, at least as it pertains to my ministry. Instead, I’m going to ask you to do something really radical. I’m not going to ask you for money. I’m going to ask you to join me in prayer, because I really, really need people to support my ministry with prayer. So please, turn your hearts to our Father in heaven, to Yehovah the Creator of the universe, and pray for my ministry, for me to be able to get the message out. I’m really struggling with that in many ways, and obviously, money is really important for doing that, but even more important is prayer. So please, this week I’m just going to ask you to pray for me and pray for my ministry. My website nehemiaswall.com is one of the main avenues where I get out information. Please, just pray for everything I’m doing.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: I do want to ask people to go to iTunes, and if you’re interested in getting this podcast on a weekly basis we actually have this really cool thing where we can hack into your phone and we sneak into your phone and it will automatically download this episode. I’m joking, we don’t actually hack into your phone.

But if you go to iTunes and you subscribe to this podcast using an iPhone, or if you’re on a normal phone like mine, an Android, you can use various podcast programs - I use Pocket Casts. There’s another one called Podcast Republic, and various other ones like that. Some of them are free. And you subscribe to the Nehemia’s Wall podcast. And every week you’ll get the Prophet Pearls, you’ll get the Torah Pearls, and you’ll get other audio teachings that I’m doing.

One of the ways you could really help us is to go to iTunes and give us a rating, a review, on Nehemia’s Wall podcast. And what that does is it actually gets the podcasts in front of other people. So someone will go into iTunes looking for, “Hey, I want a podcast, something to do with Torah,” and they’ll put that in, and if we have more ratings and reviews, more people get to see it. It’s actually really cool. I’m very excited about this. I actually went in the other day to iTunes and my podcast, which includes Prophet Pearls and Torah Pearls and other things, it’s called Nehemia’s Wall podcast. So it has as of - and obviously, this is pre-recorded so it might be more now. But it has a very good number. I think it was 26 ratings and reviews. And as a result, when you go into the Judaism section on iTunes, it’s listed as the number one per – actually, now it’s 27 yesterday it was 26 – it’s listed as the number one program in the Judaism section as something like New & Noteworthy, that’s what it’s called. There’s a section called New & Noteworthy, and the number one podcast on New & Noteworthy is the Nehemia’s Wall podcast. So I really appreciate everybody who’s been out there doing the ratings and reviews and joining me in prayer. Please, turn your heart to your Father in heaven and pray for my ministry, Makor Hebrew Foundation, nehemiaswall.com. Thank you.

Keith: Amen. Thank you. Well, as I mentioned before, Nehemia, we try our best to stay within about an hour, and we’re a little over. The two verses that were left actually have to do with what happened to David. We know because the beginning of the story tells us that he’s about to die. It says, “Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years he reigned in Hebron and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem. And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom,” and I love this, “was firmly established.” You know what? When we have our next one - ah, I won’t do it.

Nehemia: Next one? What are you talking about? I have a 30-minute teaching just on that word “firmly,” “it was firmly established,” and I’m going to share it. There’s nothing going to stop me from sharing that. I actually do, but I’m not going to share it. Just look in the Hebrew, for those who want, and I wish this had been the Word of the Week. The word there, where they translate “firmly,” it’s the last word of the verse, the last word the section, is the word “me’od.” And it says, “vatikon malchuto,” and his kingdom was established, “me’od.” And, oh, man, we could have so much fun teaching about that, “me’od.” For those who don’t know… Didn’t you have a teaching? Is that on the Open Door Series?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Somewhere you had a teaching about the word “me’od” in the Shema. Where is that?

Keith: It’s in one of those… That’s why I’m telling you, people…

Nehemia: There are so many hours of teaching, I don’t even know where everything is. But I’m pretty sure it’s in the Open Door Series in one of the episodes where Keith is talking.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And he speaks about how it says, and it has the Shema. It says, “Shema Israel, Yehovah Eloheinu, Yehovah echad.” “Hear O Israel, Yehovah is our God, Yehovah is One.” “Ve’ahavta et Yehovah elohecha,” “And you shall love Yehovah your God,” “bechol le’vav’cha,” “with all your heart,” “ubechol nafshecha,” “and with all your soul,” “ubechol m’odecha,” “and with all your me’od.” And here His kingdom was established me’od. Hallelujah.

Keith: Hallelujah.

Nehemia: That is a powerful thing. Oh, man, we could have a lot of fun teaching on that.

Keith: Well, I will say this, Nehemia. And I know every week is going to be a challenge. I know we’re going to have our issues with time, you’re going to get confused about what time it is and all those sorts of things. We’ve got ten hours each…

Nehemia: I’m on Yehovah’s time, not the time of the Chinese Communist Republic.

Keith: Yes, the doors are opening, flinging open on so many different levels. We want people to pray for us. In the meantime, do this - everyone, keep reading, keep studying, and we’re going to keep on working as the opportunity comes. So, is there anything else you want to say, Nehemia?

Nehemia: I just want to end with a prayer. May I do that?

Keith: Amen. Do that. Yes.

Nehemia: Yehovah, avinu shebashamayim, Yehovah, our Father in heaven. Yehovah, I look forward to the day where the descendant of David, who sits on the throne, the one who will come and he will keep Your mishmeret, he will keep Your treasure. And he will teach us to keep Your treasure. And he will sit on Your throne, on the throne of David, of Your people, of the kingdom, and his Kingdom will be established firmly, his kingdom will be established me’od. May it be soon, Yehovah.

Keith: Amen. 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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  • Bob Searle says:

    On the question of Joab, he was the tool what murdered Uriah the Hittite. He knew he was committing murder at the direct behest of David.

  • Kathy Zarka says:

    I do pray for your ministry Nehemia. Correction – Dr. Gordon! I feel so blessed to be able to listen to your teachings. You are so brilliant, and tenacious!!

  • John Stefanick says:

    Nehemiah and Keith, the content and approach you take to illuminate the Hebrew meaning in Torah and all of the Bible is priceless. This is a limitless well from the true source not the imaginations of man. I thank Yehovah for bringing you two together and you passion to “get” every drop out of each word or passage. What convinced me that this is a work from Heaven is that you are both compelled to pray, seeking His hand of direction. Thank you

    • Ari zuker says:

      I think clearly solomon may have startes out righteous but he broke almost every law for a king. He had multiple wives. He has too much gold. Too many horses and clearly he worshiped other Gods because of his foreign wives. He even sacrificed children to molech. I mean solomon was not just a bad man. He was evil. I dont think he was chosen at all.

  • donald murphy says:

    do not know why he walks with Christians?

  • Heidi says:

    Prayers and love! Thank you so much Keith and Nehemia,

  • Just to make a comment, Nehemia talked in the beginning of the podcast transcripts about mo’ed:

    “And of course, there’s this great scene where David and Jonathan meet, and they decide they’re going to meet three days later, and they call it the mo’ed. They say we’re going to meet at the mo’ed, and mo’ed is “appointed time”. But they set the appointed time, meaning it’s a meeting time.”

    Later, Nehemia talks about another word me’od:

    “Just look in the Hebrew, for those who want, and I wish this had been the Word of the Week. The word there, where they translate “firmly,” it’s the last word of the verse, the last word the section, is the word “me’od.” ”

    I like the symmetry of the combination mo’ed me’od.

    Could it mean something like a firmly appointed time?

  • Jeremy Hula says:

    Thank you guys for what you do. Especially for those of us who haven’t learned Hebrew yet. I want to thank you Keith for everything you do on your website as well. Especially the Hebrew classes. I’ve only started. I’m on the third class now.

  • Mia Kiceh says:

    1 king 2:5-9  King David tutors Solomon in vengeance with a “go[d]vermental /indisputable tanahk, foundational support to mold a future cultural disposition. Eye for an eye/Perpetuating a vengeful society/Charge – Command-Kept

    • Chic Gordon says:

      Godfather comparison:
      Second chapter? Sequel?/another generation of a vengeful society.
      …Christian alternative;
      Jesus professed, “turn the other cheek”.

      The prospect of forgiveness spreading as the civilized Tanakh, is exciting!

    • jehovajah says:

      Where have you heard it said: Eye for an eye… “?
      You certainly haven’t heard it said bye ?
      You certainly haven’t heard it said byeYehovah ! Rather you’ve heard it said by men who were vengeful and full of the spirit of violence! Whereas music set it out playing as a principal judgement for the judges of Israel!
      And who is a judge of Israel if not the king? So then what was his judgement and his mercy in this case? Nine please, understand the context in the history of these passages, and do not interpret it According to your loose thinking, idiosyncratically.
      So in the context of an occupation, when you’re under the thumb on the rule of the rooms, all the Greeks, who are yours judges ? That is why Yeshua pointed his students to lamentations, and not to Leviticus, for they were not judges!

  • Robert C Hendrix says:

    Another most excellent teaching! Please someday do that Psalms 119 line-by-line study you mentioned! and PLEASE delve further into those 4 words – “instructions,” “commands/ordinances,” “statutes,” and “testimonies/judgments”(Torot, mitzvot, chukkim, mishpot; forgive my spelling) as well. And thank you so much for mentioning the honorable Myles Munroe..

  • jehovajah says:

    Looking now in gen26 I find the meshmerit to be YHWHs commandments statutes and judgements and Torah’s, and that Abraham protected them at the same level of intensity as he listened in the voice of YHWH. Kol is a voice which surrounds ones senses whereas Davar is a voice that converses by written word especially by the hand of Moshe . And because it is written Moshe had to add written judgements to the statutes because Israel did not want to hear YHWH s voice so they could not ask for judgement directly like Abraham or like Moshe. . In addition Moshe added Edat or exhortations that are rehearsed as witnesses called upon as reminders over and over which were then extended to the Talmud over time by The Rabbinate

  • JW Brakebill says:

    As always, really enjoyed discussion. Would like to take an online course teaching Hebrew, starting with a beginner knowing nothing, not even the alphabet. Can you recommend any that have good reviews? Please forward to my personal email. Thanks

  • jehovajah says:

    Ed is the root of edah the concept of rehearsed exhortations or sometimes witness statements rehearsing observed events . In the context of Moshe and Abraham, they had a lore that needed to be transmitted down the generations . It would seem reasonable to view the edatu as the basis of the basis of the Oral traditions and law. Thus the Mishnah and Gemsta etc have extended the edatu from Babylonian times and became referred to as the l-m-edah the rout notion of interactive teaching from which the term Talmud derived ♥️

  • Keren de Torno says:

    History repeats in our lifespan Nehemia.
    The charge of “being a man” to Shlomo repeats once again, back to the context when in David’s season. Yes,
    We continue in our time to teach guarding and “keeping” the covenant commandments.
    But, we are once again fighting the adversaries of our covenant, to possess all the lands provided to Israel. as long as we KEEP that COVENANT.
    Today, We guard Both INSIDE of the borders of Israel, and from the surrounding boundaries of Israel. Reciting Shema is meaningless without KEEPING it! and the ACTION required to preserve our covenants sanctity.

  • bigfaithgirl says:

    Just to let you know that I pray for you daily.And I do not have much but I will send what I can each month.I believe in you!

  • Janice says:

    Charge – mission, commands, decrees make up the mission

  • Dagny Beck says:

    I got so excited because you both hit on a topic I have been trying to understand then just passed over it. How did Abraham have the Torah? What did he have and where did he get it? You guys came so close!

    • JW Brakebill says:

      I have always thought that Yehovah gave His charge, commandments, laws, etc.. to Adam, and they were passed down through the generations to Noah. After the flood, Noah to his sons (as Noah was a preacher of righteousness,) through generations to Abraham. Then maybe moreso, through Abraham via personal contact with tehovah or angelic messengers. What I see interesting is that such a verse as Gen 26:5 PROVES beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Torah of God existed from times BEFORE Mt Sinai, likely from before the foundation of the earth, and will most probably will be the laws of Messiah’s coming Kingdom.

  • Judy says:

    What a precious time this has been – like a FEAST. This is my out of the box comment I KEPT seeing clearer and clearer. Father our sovereign supreme Yehovah Elohim has opened his treasure heart through his Torah – his Father nature.

    I began to understand “A Prayer to our Father” in your book Nehemia and Keith in a different context. I realized as you both unfolded “kept” that every time we walk in his ways, commandments, testimony…… we sanctify his name – we activate his light in a blaze of glory.

    Just taking the Shabbat in the light of your book and this study including Ps119 causes me not only to understand but experience even deeper the beauty of how he cares for us as we activate his name, his ways. Amazing, awesome revelation comes far beyond the mind of man.

    Thank you and may Yehovah extend his abundance as needed to meet your every need as he confirms his out of the box strategies to reach a world without Father’s love.

  • John says:

    Hey don’t be such a snob with language, if you can add, then add, but you don’t have to chastise English. “Charge” The solider was charged to guard the fort.

  • dan says:

    One definition of the verb “charge” is to impose a duty or responsibility upon. To give an injunction. Hence, “charge” is an appropriate translation of “tzav.”

  • Krys Hunter says:

    Nehemia and Keith, if we go by the Creator’s Calender, and if there is an Adar Bet, we could conceivably have 13/14/15 (6015).

    • John Jozsa says:

      If you follow the so called Hebrew/Jewish calendar regularly for a number of years, likely did, or will notice it that “nature” seems to follow that time table. Or if you ever wondered when a season, like coming kind of late, or early, just look at the Hebrew calendar.
      But the “natural cycle” is really the SZYZGY. That is when the planets Sun, Earth and Moon are aligned at the very same angle and in line. That is precisely 19 Solar, and 19 Lunar years. So, the modern Roman calendar is just a mathematical division of time in between. The Lunar,or Jehovah’s calendar times are by nature, or creation,that are the actual “appointed times”.
      Ha alu Shalom

  • UKJ says:

    The story is like a detective story and I am no Sherlock Holmes.
    For what I can gather…

    Abner killed Joab’s brother–Joab perceived Abner as a spy. David believed Abner to be genuinely seeking him to be king.
    The story continued that Joab received David’s contempt — Joab reacted in turn by encouragingly promoting against Solomon…

    Hence ,
    David understood, it was up to Solomon to deal with Joab.

    Without Nehemiah asking the question, I would never have thought of seeking an answer. Thank you Nehemiah.

    1Kgs 2:22

  • Interesting observations on the admonitions of David and the Philistine general to “be a man”. I see congruence in the prerequisite, namely being strong, and the need to “be a man”. Only in the application of the manhood is there divergence, the Philistines warring, while David advocates torah keeping.

    A really interesting observation coincidentally is found in the KJV bible text 1Sam4:9, “quit yourself like men”. While not a very literal translation, it does give us insight into the 17th century English thoughts on manhood. It appears that self denial is a major component, perhaps well paraphrased as “What I want, or what my companion wants, even to knowledge, safety, and even life itself, is trivial. All that matters is what Yah wants.”

  • Janice says:

    Fathers and sons; We need to rmember King David (not father David) Solomon yes from his loins; more so Soloman is a subject of the King; He commands, that’s a King’s directive; he’s speaking in legal terms not, (father/son talk) Solomon asked for wisdom, what kind did he ask for? and what kind did he get? wisdom and understanding can only be gained through the Covenant of MOses. If we read the laws of Kings; did Solomon observed the Commands of YeHovah? and how did that affect all Israel; broke in pieces.

    Joseph, thought as dead, is realeased from Covenant of Yehova, why? to be free to be adopted as legal heir to Pharoah; why did Jacob bless Ephraim and Menashe? when Joepsh dies; Pharoh has no claim on Ephraim and Mesasse; are free to be adopted/engrafted back into the Covenant of Yeahova and be heirs; Joseph dies, is free from Pharoah; can be reclaimed by Jacob; oathed to bring back his bones to promised land and be buried there and not embalmed. Same for Jacob.Sons are not always of one loins; they can be adopted or engrafted into the Covenant.

    • John Jozsa says:

      Dear Janice,I really enjoy your reasoning. BUT,(and it’s a big but), is not the Creator’s /JeHoVaH’s initial or moral covenant ,that is by Creation ,does not stand with all His creation (meaning humans only), regardless of any written rules, provided by any means , any time afterwords ?
      As we say ; animals “do not sin” ( be that the Mosaic or Noahdic laws), that is no carnovour kills unless hungry. Only wehumans, do exploit, abuse and destroy everything, even our own fellow human beings.
      The saddest part is that we humans do it for pleasure and profit. Animals only for survival.

      Do not, we humans,or at least most, without any knowledge and religious instruction sense, or even know, or subcunsciously realize without admitting that our wrong doing has consequances? Is that not what moved any and all religious believes to the so called ; forgivness,redemptions, remission, Olam Haba, Messiah, atonement, going to heaven, etc,etc.but , regardless of religion?Is it not likely in our human DNA? .

  • Karen Powell says:

    The Biblical account of David putting out a (throat clearing) Contract: Joab basically committed insubordination and treason against David as God’s anointed authority. David was King not Joab. Joab acted for his own self wants and wishes against the pledge David had made related to the house of Benjamin/ Abner was a prince. 2 Sam 3:38 Joab also premeditated murder against Abner after David sent Abner away in peace. Insubordination and treason. Abner was in retreat and had given Joab’s brother at least two warnings to not pursue him. But,Joab’s brother took the risk and refused to listen. Whereas, Joab premeditated murder against Abner. Joab could have ignited an internal war. Just as Israel and Judah were uniting under David with Abner’s help. David’s concern of Joab. 2 Sam 39.And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men sons of Zeruiah too hard for me:

  • wordslea says:

    I enjoy your pearls so much — but sometimes the banter interferes. This one also brought tears to my eyes during the final prayer for Messiah’s kingdom. My prayers for you both continue.