Hebrew Voices – Passover Special (Rebroadcast)

In this episode of Hebrew Voices, Passover Special, Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson delve into the story of the exodus, beginning with Ex 12:21. They start off by sharing the time they personally experienced "darkness so dark, it could be felt". Nehemia points out a few examples in the exodus story where we are given background information by way of a flashback and he explain how the Passover sacrifice was brought, who could eat of it and how it should be commemorated today. Keith gets all excited when they come to the part where Yehovah introduces His calendar and Nehemia suggests we be tolerant of our neighbor who may be celebrating the holidays on a different date than ourselves. Nehemia also gives a very quick overview of the three different types of leaven and the extent of the prohibition of leaven on Chag HaMatzot (Passover).

I look forward to reading your comments!

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Transcript

Hebrew Voices – Passover Special

You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Nehemia:Yehovah, Avinu Shebashamaim haster et hachoshech hamechaseh et einenu, g’al einenu venabita niflaot mitoratecha.” Yehovah, our Father in heaven, remove the darkness that covers our eyes. Uncover our eyes that we may see the hidden, wonderful things of your Torah, Amen.

Jono: Amen.

Keith: Amen! I'm telling you man, I need that right now.

Nehemia: I’m telling you too. But it does say there was darkness, so dark that they could feel it.

I've been in places that were so dark you can feel the darkness. Really, it's been caves underground. Some of the caves where the ancient Israelites hid out from the foreign invaders. You go down to those caves, and you turn off your flashlight, and you just wait a few minutes for your eyes to adjust. And, man, is it dark. Keith and I had an interesting incident in one of those caves, which I probably won’t share.

Keith: I would like to share it. We were actually in darkness ladies and gentlemen. Nehemia, the great tour guide took me down into these caves, ladies and gentlemen. And I want to tell you something, we experienced the plague of darkness. It's really an amazing experience. I've never done anything like this, Jono. You're deep down in the earth. And so, he did just that. He turned the light off and he's like, “Now I want you to experience the darkness,” he'd say. And so, the darkness came and there was quiet and darkness. And after about 30 seconds we started hearing this scratching. The great, brave and courageous Nehemia Gordon turned on his light. What was it Nehemia? A rat or something was down there.

Nehemia: It was a field mouse. Some kids had been in that cave, I guess, the day before, and left some potato chips or something. And so, a field mouse was working on them. And you have to understand, Jono. We were crawling through these tunnels that you can't stretch your arms out. You're on your stomach and you're actually moving your stomach and your back just to be able to inch forward. It's almost like you're swimming through it. And it's so tight and I'm realizing, if we have to crawl through that tunnel that has the mouse in it, the mouse is going to crawl over me. I'm going to scream like a little girl.

Keith: I just have to tell everyone. We were sitting there in the darkness and finally, enough is enough. And Nehemia says, "Keith, don't be alarmed if I scream like a little girl."

Nehemia: What I did end up doing is making noise and scared the field mouse away. And then I sent, Keith first.

Jono: Speaking of sending, we're negotiating again in verse 24. Pharaoh called to Moses and he said, "You can go. You can take your little ones. But let your flocks and your herd be kept back." He's still negotiating. Moses says, no, not doing that. Yehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said, "Get away from me. Take heed to yourselves and see my face no more. For in the day you see my face you shall die.” And Moses thought that was a good idea, so he said, fine, have it your way.

“We won't speak again I will never see your face again." And here we are knocking on the door of the final plague, and that is of course the death of the first born.

Keith: And here's where I feel like we have to slow down, and I'm sure the folks that are listening are hoping that we'll also slow down because this is such a significant shift that takes place again. There's the shift of, here's what's going to happen to the land, here's what's going to happen to the animals, here's what's going to happen to you. And then it's almost like we start over again. Not saying this specifically, but it's almost outside of them again after the boils. And then we get to this idea that Pharaoh speaks these words of death, and then the next thing that we're dealing with is death. I don't know for you, Nehemia, when you historically read this, or maybe something that changed in terms of a tradition, or something that changes this sort of a story. But this becomes something that for me that I have to slow down. Because I'm like, wait a minute.

It isn't just, we're going to bring forth these plagues to get you out of here. This is something that has ramifications throughout scripture. That's why I want us to slow down a little bit. This is really important.

Jono: There's a lot of gravity to this one, because the previous plagues almost had the comical elements. And I don't mean that it's funny, but it's like, take that, Egyptians. You deserve that.

But this one, it really gets very, very serious. And to imagine if, in all its reality, as I said, it just adds a lot of gravity to the situation. “Yehovah said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt, and afterwards he will let you go from here. And when he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. Speak now, in the hearing of the people. Let every man ask his neighbor, and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold. And Yehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people. Moses said, thus says Yehovah, about midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die. From the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who's behind the hand mill, and all of the firstborn of the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt such as was not like it before nor shall it ever be again. But against none of the children of Israel." It's interesting. And I'd like to know how you interpret this, Nehemia. "But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue against man or beast, that you may know that Yehovah does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel."

Nehemia: That’s one of my favorite passages, being a big dog fan. It's an interesting phrase, it also appears in the book of Joshua where it talks about the Israelites. When they're conquering the land no one dared to move their tongue against the Israelites. And apparently, it's a figure of speech that expresses, in the case of dogs barking and in the case of people shouting, and essentially barking in their way as well. And what normally happens when a whole group of people, heck, when two or three people walked by my door, my dog Georgia barks. That's normally what dogs do. And you had over a million Israelites leaving the land of Egypt, and the dogs didn't bark at them. That was a sign. The silence of the dogs, the respect of the dogs for God's people was a sign that this isn't just a cosmic coincidence. This is the hand of God.

Keith: Wait, here's the question here. You said there's going to be this loud wailing throughout Egypt. So, this is what's going to happen. There's going to be this loud wailing. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark. So, there's not going to be any sound. There's going to be wailing in this part of Egypt, but amongst the Israelites not even the dogs will say anything. I was expecting instead for it to be like this, this is going to be the firstborn, that's going to happen, but amongst the Israelites no firstborn will die. Then it says, there's going to be this that's going to happen with the firstborn. And there's going to be wailing, but among the Israelites there will be no wailing. Then you will know that there is a distinction. So, I’m thinking, wait a minute. As we read later, we find out that if you don't go by the commands of Yehovah, then you are not going to be safe from this thing that's about to happen. It almost throws me for a little bit of a loop, because I'm thinking he's going to say, I'm going to make a distinction and there's not going to be any death. Rather, he says, there's not going to be any wailing. As I read that, that's the thing that kind of threw me off a little bit. But we can move on.

Jono: It goes on and says in verse 8, "And all of these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me saying, get out and all the people who follow you. After that I will go out. And then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger. But Yehovah said to Moses, Pharaoh will not heed you so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. So, Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh. And Yehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of the land.” And here we are in chapter 12, and this is the Passover.

Keith: And here's why I think this is so, so significant. Because here you've got this verse in verse 29, just as you say, Moses replied, I will never appear before you again. Then you have this whole discussion about what's going to happen. And by the way, when you leave get the gold, and get the silver. He's preparing for the Exodus.

And then Moses said, this is what Yehovah says, and he tells him this. And then he says, after that I will leave. “Then Moses, hot with anger,” it says, “he left Pharaoh.”

Finally, Moses is like, look man, this thing has gotten very serious, and he leaves in anger. And then it's like there's a commercial. And I know we've talked about this before, Nehemia, where there are these things that happen. Sometimes in scripture things happen rapid fire. In four sentences it'll go over a two- or three-year period.

Then other times in scripture we will have something that happens, and then it's like there's this commercial, and the commercial that's coming is super significant when we get to chapter 12.

I don't know if that's something you want to talk a little bit about, about how the Hebrew bible is written, but I think this is really interesting. Here’s this and this plague, now we're going to slow down and get a whole bunch more information over a period of time.

Nehemia: Maybe what you're saying is verses 9 and 10 of the last chapter, chapter 11, that's not sequential to what just happened in verse 8. In verse 8 it's essentially Moses is standing there, and Pharaoh says, "I'm never going to see you again." And then Moses says, "Yeah, you're never going to see me again."

And Moses has one last prophecy, walks out in anger, and then we get a retrospective describing that whole process that just took place.

Yehovah said to Moses, "The Pharaoh will not listen to you.” Well, when did he say that? “In order that I will multiply my signs in the land of Egypt."

That must have been a long time before Moses walked out, because at that point there was only one more sign, and that was the plague of the firstborn, along with the splitting of the sea, as well.

Presumably, this was something that happened much earlier. And that's something that happens throughout the story. There’re a few details that I’ll point to, if we get to them, if we have time. And one of them was in verse 2 of the last chapter. It says, “Each man will ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor vessels of silver and vessels of gold.”

When exactly did that happen? Presumably that was something that was an ongoing process in preparation of these final days, and maybe final weeks of leaving. "Can I borrow that silver platter you have?" This favor was given to the Israelites that the Egyptians said, "Yeah slave, you could have my gold platter, my gold cup. Sure."

And this is how they despoiled Egypt. They just asked the Egyptians for the stuff and the Egyptians gave it to them. And then that's repeated in verse 36. It says, "And Yehovah gave favor of the people in the eyes of Egypt. And they asked of them and they borrowed from them, and they despoiled Egypt."

We're not supposed to understand that verse 36 took place after verse 34, because in verse 34 they've already left the country. This is what you might call retrospective. And that's an important principle in the Torah. In Hebrew we say, eyn mukdam ume'ukhar baTorah. There's no sequential order of the sections in the scripture.

And one of the clear examples of that is where actually a date is given. It is in the book of Numbers chapter 9. It gives a date, and that date is before the date given in Numbers chapter 1. It's not sequential. Within the section, not necessarily.

It's telling the story of these things that happened in the past. But the order in which they happened is not necessarily being laid out by the order of the verses. I think that's the key point.

Keith: Thank you.

Jono: “Yehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, ‘This shall be your beginning of the months.’” This is significant as well, isn't it? Because if I remember correctly the year of the Egyptians had already begun. And I think, if I remember correctly, the way they calculated the year was the astronomical event, the sighting of the star on the horizon with an agricultural event, the flooding of the Nile. But Yehovah is correcting them. He's saying, "Now, this is what we're going to do. This is a different thing."

Nehemia: Rising of Sirius, which is a star.

Keith: When is that, Nehemia?

Nehemia: It's an event that happens once a year. They would actually go and observe it. And they would observe Sirius rising, if I'm not mistaken, just before sunrise. They call it the heliacal rising. That would indicate to them that the earth has reached that point in its orbit. They thought it was the sun reaching that point in its orbit around the earth. That's what they thought.

Jono: Did you recall what time of the year that happens?

Nehemia: Not off the top of my head, no. It happens once a solar year.

Keith: Jono and Nehemia, I'd like a card here for a second. I did something really interesting at the beginning of 2012, and I did it on purpose because of my interest this coming year on this issue of time.

I've talked a lot about this, time, Torah, tetragrammaton. Time, Torah, and his name. And I encountered these three things in Israel in 2002, and it reoriented my entire life, my ministry, my family, everything.

When I deal with the issues of God's time, versus the time that we live in, it catches my attention. When we deal with His Torah versus, maybe, the Torah that we're also given and told, this is what we're to live by or His name, these three things are big.

For me, in 2012, I'm focusing on this issue of time. And Nehemia knows that. He makes jokes sometimes about it, but I know he also takes it seriously that if you want to talk to Keith about something that's happening in scripture and we come across something that points to time, Torah, or tetragrammaton, he's going to get excited.

What I did in the beginning of 2012, I went to New York City. Maybe in Australia you guys have cameras that focus in on the fact that in New York City at 12 o'clock, midnight, January 1st, the world puts their cameras in and says, "It's the New Year."

And so, this year I convinced my family, because I've done it one other time about 25 years ago, I went in to Times Square in New York. And the reason I wanted to...

Nehemia: Why is it called Times Square?

Keith: It's actually called Times Square not because of time. It's actually called Times Square because of a newspaper, the New York Times that actually moved their office into Times Square.

But here's what's interesting Nehemia. Most people don't think of Times Square in terms of the newspaper. They think of Times Square because that's where the United States says, it's the beginning of the year. And so, we go to Times Square and a million people make their way into Times Square to do one thing, to watch the ball drop.

Jono: I don't get it.

Keith: I'm telling you, Jono, it's one of the most ridiculous things. I could really go into great depth, but here's why I want to bring this up. We have been conditioned in this part of the world that we're on our time. And the time is set based on the Gregorian calendar, and they tell us on January 1st, it's Happy New Year.

However, when I get to Exodus chapter 12, there's a conflict. Because the conflict is, it seems that for some reason God doesn't want to get on our calendar. He clearly is telling Moses, "Here's your calendar."

If I'm wrong, you guys, please correct me. But it seems as though there is a counting of time that our creator has that, for some reason, based on my new understanding over the last 10 years, doesn't match the biblical time. And so, this causes great concern for me, and I think this verse is where it gets really serious.

It says, "Yehovah said unto Moshe and to Aaron in Egypt, this month is to be for you, the first month." And then he says again, "The first month of your year." Here's your calendar, put it in your Blackberry. Here's what you're going to know, Moses. Here's the time you're supposed to have.

But we've got a problem. Based on this calendar, this calendar doesn't match mine. So which calendar am I to go by? And how am I to know when this first month is? I'm on a search that has got me mesmerized, like it did with the name. And I happen to be friends with Nehemia Gordon who, by the way, in my opinion, is one of the world's foremost experts on God's time according to His calendar and how we figure that out.

Nehemia, you've got to take a moment. Just stick your chest out for a second if you would and help us understand why this verse is so significant.

Nehemia: The Hebrew word for month, chodesh, is a word that literally means "new moon". And so, you could also legitimately translate this verse, "This new moon is for you, the head of new moons. First it is for you of the new moons of the year." That tells you that the months are going to begin with these new moons.

Keith: Wait a minute, let's stop for a second. This is important, wouldn’t you agree? Can we take a moment?

Jono: Certainly, let's take a moment.

Keith: You're telling me, Nehemia, when you're reading in your Hebrew Bible, you can come to the conclusion that actually he's not speaking of, as I understand, month, but that month is based on the new moon?

Nehemia: Absolutely. The word "month" means new moon. In verse 3, "I'll speak to the entire congregation of Israel saying on the 10th day of this month." It could also be translated, “on the 10th day of this new moon.”

This is not a topic that we should be divisive about. What I've seen, it saddens me to see people who will say, "Before I was in error and now, I found the truth. And only I have the truth and everyone else is in error now."

And they'll focus on this issue of the calendar and they’ll say, "We've got the new moon down, and those other people, they don't have the new moon. They're still following the rabbinical calendar, they're following some other calendar according to some other system which they think is right. But they have scales in their eyes, and we're the only one who's right. They're going to be burning in the pit of hell because they're wrong.”

It really isn't something that should divide people. I think it's something that should unite people. And if I'm observing the feast on the correct day, on Tuesday, and you're observing it on Wednesday a month later, that is really not something that should divide us. I should be big enough where I can come to your home a month later on what you believe is the correct day and happens to be wrong, and break matzah with you and enjoy this festival, because it's not about you and me being right, it's about worshiping the creator of the universe in humility. And I should be humble enough to admit that I'm wrong even though I know for a fact that you're wrong.

Jono: Can I put it this way? I would say, always reserve your right to be wrong, and in doing so you can always extend grace to others who think a little differently than you.

Nehemia: Amen. Absolutely.

Jono: “On the 10th of the month you take yourself a lamb…”, we're going to have to fly through this, we're running out of time. “One lamb per household…”, and there's the details there. “Your lamb should be without blemish, male of the first year. And you take some and you kill it at twilight. And you take some of the blood and you put it on the doorpost.”

And he gives them all the unleavened bread, bitter herbs. You don't eat it raw. Check. The one that I don't understand, that roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its entrails. Why its head and its entrails?

Nehemia: None of it goes to waste. This is a really interesting thing in verse 10. Verse 10 it says, "Don't leave any of it until morning. And that which is left until the morning shall be burned in the fire," which is really interesting.

That is something that is part of what later on it says, this is a statute for all your generations. But actually, that year in Egypt they didn't even have the opportunity to wait that long until morning because they were kicked out of the country in the middle of the night. They must have had to burn it and get out of there, and they left at night. And it actually reiterates that in Numbers 33:3 and Deuteronomy 16:1, they actually left at night.

Here in verse 11 it says, “thus so you eat it your loins girded”, meaning your belt is on, “you're ready to go, your shoe is on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste for it is the Passover to Yehovah.” And why are they eating it in haste? Because they're going to get kicked out, and that's being anticipated.

On the one hand there's this commandment for all time that when we eat the Passover, we can't leave any of it until morning. We have to burn it. On the other hand, that year they really ate it in haste. And I think every year... Now we can't do the Passover sacrifice later in Deuteronomy 16, and so it has to be brought to the chosen place which becomes Jerusalem. So, we can't actually do it in the Temple anymore. But I still think when we remember the Passover every year, we should have our belt on or our shoes and be ready to go any minute, not out of Egypt, but out of the spiritual Egypt when the Messiah comes and redeems us from the exile that we're in. And I know Keith is going to say, come back, and we can bicker about that from now until I'm proven that I'm right.

Keith: Nehemia, are you waiting for the Mashiach?

Nehemia: Absolutely. I want the Mashiach to come, and I want to live my life with my shoes on my feet and my belt girded. Ready to go that he may come today. That's my prayer.

Jono: “So, this day shall be to you a memorial and you shall keep it as a feast to Yehovah throughout your generations. Throughout your generations you should keep it as an everlasting ordinance.”

But as you said, we read in Deuteronomy 16, that it's only to be done in the Temple. We don't have the Temple. We don't do it.

Having said that, there's all sorts of traditions that people do engage in and call it the Passover. And I've heard the argument, are we creating the religion of Jeroboam by doing that, because this is something we're not supposed to do?

Nehemia: I think that if you bring the sacrifice that definitely makes it the religion of Jeroboam. There are people who do that, who say, it's for all generations and I don't read Deuteronomy. And so, they'll slaughter a Passover in their backyard, and eat it, and say, “I've actually fulfilled the Passover”. And if you do that literally I think you're on dangerous ground there.

I just want to point out in a really cool verse here at the end of 12 it says, "Against all the gods of Egypt I will carry out judgment, I am Yehovah."

What they mean by that, the first born, Pharaoh was a god, and his son was a god. And they worshipped sheep, and so we're slaughtering their god. This is really judgment against the gods of Egypt.

Keith: I was going to say again in verse 18, I appreciate, Nehemia, your approach in terms of looking at just where people are in their process and figuring it out. But I do love verse 18 because it says it again. It says in verse 18, "In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast."

There's this idea that it's time, and it's Torah. Here's the command and here's when you do it. And so, I think one of the things that we do want to do is, we want to do to the best of our ability, search the scriptures for ourselves and try to find what we are able to do.

Not based on the rule and regulation that we can't even keep, but the idea that, while we're in exile, and we are, for us to be able to do, with the best of our ability, to try to find out when is His time? What is His Torah? And how we are to operate in this way. And I just think that's a really powerful experience.

Again, I want to say what's most powerful to me is to be able to walk out in my backyard, find out when the new moon is actually sighted, and think about what Moses and Aaron saw. And to know that, when I look and see that and put that together, that I'm trying to understand His time, separate of the time that I've been given in my tradition.

Nehemia: I know we're out of time. Can I just make one statement about this whole thing of the moon and the sun? I once heard this lecture by this astrophysicist. He said, sometimes you'll see things in astronomy, and it looks like a coincidence, and it's hard to believe that there are coincidences.

But then we have a coincidence here on earth that when we look at the sun, when we look at the moon from our perspective, they appear to be the exact same size. And that obviously is a colossal coincidence.

And so even though the sun is immensely larger than the moon, larger than the earth, they appear to be the exact same visible size from our perspective. That's actually part of what creates this whole phenomenon of the new moon. And so that's amazing. To say that's a colossal coincidence, I don't have enough faith to believe that that's a coincidence. I just don't.

One thing I want to point out in this chapter, I know we're just about out of time, and we could probably do a whole session just on the whole issue of leaven. Maybe we have already. I don't know.

We have three different words for leaven, se’or, which refers to yeast, or sourdough starter back in ancient times. Machmetzet and chametz, which is the actual product of the leaven.

And then we have three terms, Lo Yimatzeh, will not be found. Then it says tashbitu, you will cause it to cease. And then it has Lo Year’eh, it will not be seen. So, it literally means, get rid of all your leaven. It should not be around in your houses.

Jono: On the 14th we have pesach, and we have unleavened bread of the days of Shabbat, the last days of Shabbat. And they have the blood on the doorposts and so on and so forth.

In verse 29, “It came to pass at midnight that Yehovah struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.”

“So, the Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where there was not one dead.”

It goes on to say that he called for Moses and Aaron. He said, "Rise, go out from among my people. Both you and the children go and then serve Yehovah as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds,” there’s no more negotiating, “as you have said.” Also, get this, “by the way, before you go, bless me also.”

If I can't keep any of you here, if I'm going to let you all go at least give me a blessing before you go.

Nehemia: What don't you understand about unconditional surrender?

Jono: And get this. Here we are, it's what we're referring to before. “And the Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out of the land in haste.” For they said, "We'll all be dead if they stay here any longer."

Eventually, they're saying: "You want our silver, you want gold? Tell us what you want. Here it is. Please take it and just get on your way. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians.” Wow, 600,000 men on foot besides children, a mixed multitude went up with Moses.

Keith: What's obvious is that there are people that are amongst that group. And what I think is so cool is that even in the midst of the discussion of the Passover he says, there's going to be some that are amongst you that are going to be what I think he calls, does he call them aliens?

Jono: Foreigners, aliens, strangers.

Keith: I think it's just amazing that Yehovah, and this event, when it's referred to throughout the scripture, and the prophets are always talking about this amazing thing, that Yehovah with a strong arm took His people out and called them his own, his special possession. And it included those that were willing to also live under the wonderful instructions of Yehovah, that they could also become a part of his people. It's a pretty powerful statement.

Nehemia: Do we have time to do a really quick thing? Three minutes on, and this is I think one of the most important passages in the bible to me. It's Exodus, starts in 43, it goes through verse 47. I'll talk really fast.

This is the statute of Passover. And then if you translate it literally it'll say, kol ben nechar, every son of a Gentile shall not eat it. But then it gives specifics, which are exceptions to that rule. Verse 44, “And every slave who was bought of silver you shall circumcise him and then he may eat of it.” There's an example of a Gentile who is allowed to eat it, an Israelite who has a Gentile slave.

And then verse 45 says, the exception to the exception is toshav ve’sakhir, which is a resident and a hired worker. Those are people who live in the land but aren't Israelites, and they may work for Israelites. They may not eat of it, because they're Gentiles.

“And even though they're in your land they may not eat of it.” Verse 45 goes through some of the rules of the Passover. We can skip that for now. Verse 47, “The entire congregation of Israel shall do it.” And the word “congregation” of Israel is very interesting. They don't have to be physical direct sons of Israel, but they're a part of the congregation of Israel. And then verse 48 explains what that means.

Keith: Wait Nehemia, just a second. You can't go so quickly. This is very important. So, you're saying in verse 47, “the whole community”. Now that's going to be the explanation to verse 48, is that what you're saying?

Nehemia: That's what I'm saying, absolutely. That's a very common thing in the scripture, you have a general statement and then you have the specifics. Just like in verse 43, we had the general statement, “no Gentile may eat of it”. But then there are specifics where there are exceptions to that.

Then in verse 47, general statement, the entire congregation of Israel, they will do it. And then there are specifics. What does it mean the congregation of Israel? And one who sojourns with you, and you shall do the Passover to Yehovah, you shall circumcise for him every male. And then he will approach to do it. And he shall become as a native born of the land. But no uncircumcised may eat of it.

And then he explains, “there will be one Torah for the native born and the sojourner who sojourns among you.” So that sojourner, that non-physical Israelite who gets circumcised, eats of the Passover sacrifice, “…he is then as if he was native born of the land”, as if he was a direct descendant of Jacob. “There's one Torah for him just like there is one Torah for Moses, Aaron, and all the other physical descendants of Israel.”

Keith: The NIV says the same law applies, so I'm assuming it's a law of the Passover. But when you use the word “torah” you’re making that up.

Nehemia: But it says “torah akhat ti’hiyeh,” there will be one Torah “la’ezrakh” for the native-born Israelite. “velager hagar betokhakhem,” and the sojourner who sojourns among you. There's one Torah. There are not two torahs, this applies to the Jew, and this applies to the Gentile. If they get circumcised and eat of the Passover sacrifice, there's one Torah for all of them.

Jono: They've entered into the covenant.

Nehemia: They're a part of the congregation of Israel, the community of Israel, commonwealth, however you want to translate it. They're part of the adat yisrael.

Keith: I was going to say, I was in Israel eating Shabbat dinner with Nehemia and his family. And his father Rabbi Gordon, who has since passed on. We're thankful for all that he put into his son.

But as I was there, I was all excited because Nehemia allowed me to come and eat a Sabbath dinner with his family. This is a wonderful thing and we've talked about it before.

But I had found different times in scripture where there’s sort of the “in” for me as the foreigner by joining myself to Yehovah and grabbing ahold of His covenant and these things.

And so, I was so excited because Rabbi Gordon, and Nehemia please correct me because I want to be sensitive to how he said it. But basically, he said, "It's time for this prayer." And please tell the people what the prayer was.

Nehemia: It's the Birkat Hamazon, the grace after meal. The prayer is made a certain way if you're an individual, but then another way if you have three Jewish males or more.

And so, I was there, and my father was there. And Keith said, "Rabbi Gordon I want to show you these passages which show that, because I accept the God of Israel and believe in the one true God..." How did you put it Keith? I don't remember exactly.

Keith: I'm in the Jewish home, it’s Shabbat. I'm excited. I'm a foreigner, but I'm excited to have joined myself to Yehovah. I have not made any conversion. I don't wear the kippah, I'm not a Karaite. I'm still a good old-fashioned Methodist who's trying to figure out how I can live by God's time, His Torah and under His name.

And so, I went to the great Rabbi Gordon and he said, "We need three males for the prayer." And I'm like, "I'm here. I count. I'm ready. Can I be one?" And what did he say Nehemia?

Nehemia: "You don't count." And I think what Keith was trying to say is, "I'm part of God's people because I accept the God of the Old Testament, the God of scripture."

And my father's way of thinking, my father of blessed memory, the way he saw it is that if you didn't stand before a council of three rabbis and go through this whole procedure of conversion to Judaism, then you don't count.

He literally meant in that context you don't count for the prayer. But I think he also meant you don't count in God's eyes. And I think Keith does count in God's eyes.

Keith: Did you have to bring up that part? But my point is, Jono and Nehemia, as we're reading this and as people are listening, it's such an exciting invitation that Yehovah gives to the foreigner, to the alien. They shook the family tree and no Jews have fallen out.

That's like me, I don't know of any Jewish blood in me, but I do know that the creator of the universe has given an invitation to people like me to join Him and to understand His covenant and attempt to live by His covenant in a way that glorifies Him.

You can't separate this. This is His call. This is our creator's call for us to grab a hold and to understand this, and to live by it. It's not something that you just wave your hand over and say, "I'm good." There's something to it.

And that's why we're going through these Torah portions. I want people to be encouraged. I want Methodist. I want Baptist. I don't care who you are. This is the word of God. Let's grab a hold of it, understand it, and attempt to live by it to give God His glory. And to be blessed by living under His instruction.

That's my little preaching for the day. I thank you all for letting me because I do count.

Jono: Absolutely, you do count. And we all agree, these verses are still valid for today. And if we want to do everything that we can do, though we don't have a Temple, these are the things that we have to take seriously.

Nehemia: I know what Exodus says. It's pretty clear to me. That if you want to participate in the future Passover sacrifice when the Messiah comes it's clear what you’ve got to do.

Keith: This is awesome. I know we've gone overtime, but I'll tell you something, this is really an important passage, and I hope people will slow down and take the time to read it for themselves.

Send questions to us and make comments. We do want to be able to interact with this information. We're trying to be creative about how we're going to do that, but I'm so excited about the people that are listening. All the people that listen to these programs, it really is an encouragement to us.

But more than that, that I think is so important, it's something that's happening in the world. People are awakening to the importance of God's time, His Torah, and His name. This is just one part of that, that is such an honor for me.

And I want to say thank you to you Jono and to you Nehemia, by you guys letting the Methodist with his NIV here. Though I must tell everyone now that my microphone is clear, I am tempted sometimes not to play the role of the dumb Methodist. But every once in a while, they let me say something that is deep. It's exciting to be with you guys, because you really bring the best out of me and I appreciate it.

Jono: Amen. It ends with verse 16. And it says, "It shall be a sign on your hand, and as frontlets between your eyes by strength of hand Yehovah brought us out of Egypt." We're going to be revisiting that verse later in the Torah portions in Deuteronomy. Thank you, Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson.

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  • Stephen P. Colletti says:

    Why does Exodus 34:14 say Yehovah’s name is jealous?

  • Mike Ettinger says:

    In regard to the head and entrails being intact while the lamb was subject to fire, Yeshua had his head and entrails while he quenched the hellfire while hanging on the cross

  • Peggy Brunk says:

    Deuteronomy 16 doesn’t say that the temple is required, or that a ‘temple’ is where the Passover should be sacrificed. It says rather that it should be done in the place where He chooses to place His name. There has been more than one place where He has chosen to place His name. First He placed it in Shiloh. Then He removed it from Shiloh. Then He placed it in Jerusalem . . . and He removed it from Jerusalem, for the same reason – the sin of the people. See: 1 Kings 9:7; 2 Kings 23:27; Jeremiah 7:10-14. Scripture does say that Jerusalem is where He will place His name forever, but looking at the current state of the temple mount, it really seems that it is currently NOT the place where His name resides, but has been removed from there, in keeping with His word. I believe that His name will be placed there forever at the end of the age, when Messiah’s reign begins. (Hopefully within my lifetime!) But where is His name placed now? Where has it been since He removed it from Jerusalem? I know what I believe, but would be interested in what others might glean from Scripture on the subject – especially you Nehemia, since the Name has been so important to your journey and such a focus of study for you.

  • Charles Wellman says:

    Exodus 12:22 says you shall not go out of the doorposts until morning.
    So how did they leave in the night?

    • Rich Brown says:

      Try Moving a mixed multitude of millions Time and S p a c e . . . All Praise be to YHVH.

  • virajabey says:

    Nehemia, do you mean that gentiles who wish to observe the Torah need to be circumcised? I listened to your talk with Michel on Shabbat night live on Acts 15. Please help me to understand this. Shalom

    • Joseph ZP says:

      Exodus 12
      43 And YHVH said unto Moses and Aaron: ‘This is the ordinance of the passover: there shall no alien eat thereof;
      44 but every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
      45 A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof.
      46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
      47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
      48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to YHVH, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
      49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.’
      50 Thus did all the children of Israel; as YHVH commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. {S}
      51 And it came to pass the selfsame day that YHVH did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

  • Linda says:

    Nehemiah, did the Karaite tradition of following the crescent moon begin in Babylon? And chodesh is used for month with the real word for month is yareach, yes? And the dead sea scrolls delineate the Zadok calendar. You helped on the DSS; yet, you are not persuaded for this calendar. Why? We’re the Zadok priests not of the true Aaronic lineage? Thanks for answering, since it’s ok for me to be wrong. 🙂

    • Aryeh François says:

      The Karaïte tradition of following the sighting of the crescent new moon goes back to Sinaï. The Rabbis (Hillel2) moved to the perpetual calendar which the Rabbinical Jews follow because there was no longer a Temple.
      ירח means moon. ראש חודש means the new moon/new month.

  • Hosea 2:11
    When outside of the land, no feasts, no new moons (no lunar calendar) as commanded by YHVH.

    • Angela McKay says:

      Explain, please… I turned to Hosea 2:11 and I do not see your explanation inherent in that cited scripture…

  • Marisha H. Fraaza says:

    My cat was prescribed special cat food by the veterinarian because of continuous urine infections, this food contains wheat and of course, we are in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, otherwise, I removed all possible leaven, if you could comment, thanks, God bless you, Marisha

  • Susan Regan says:

    So are we suppose to keep Passover, and how, if there is not Temple?

    • Rocky Jackson says:

      Sister Susan just go to Exodus 12:14
      Start there learn the Hebrew for Remember
      And the Hebrew for perpetual regulation or ordinance just depends on the version
      When you realize that you can only commemorate this now …enjoy

  • Charles says:

    I don’t think it can be said too many times: The chosen people of God are not a closed group. As long as certain and specific laws are followed by the one who seeks to join, the invitation is open to choose the chosen. Have a happy Passover!

  • Your words Nehemiah:
    “If God gives you all the rules and regulations, stick to them. Don’t add to them or take away from them.”

    “You have to be very careful with the words that you choose and the actions that you carry out because YHVH will be sanctified by those who are close to Him.”

    “Be careful.”

  • Erin Hunter says:

    So much to understand and YHVH is aiding all who seek His Torah in willingness to learn of truth!
    Thanks Nehemiah, Keith and Jonah for expounding and clarifying so many hidden things…
    Shalom

  • dale hurley says:

    If Torah doesn’t waste words, how come in Exodus 12, when it states this month shall be the first of months and then states this month shall be the first month of the year they are not separate commands which would make not only that month the first month but that year the first year? As far as I’ve found, that is the way time is reckoned till the end of Torah.

  • Thomas Garza says:

    I would that all so called Messianic Believers everywhere will STOP using the Passover and the Seder as an evangelism tool. I have read this year of too many folks doing some sort of a ” more Christian friendly” version or “take-off” of the Seder to appeal to non-Torah folks. We will never reach the goal if we continue to change the PATHS. Respectfully submitted.

  • Lorraine says:

    I have listened to the three of you for years and find new nuggets of information to chew on. I want to thank you for showing that even we can be part of the “family” if we believe on the name of Yahovah and His Torah.

  • Janice says:

    Have to leave your past identity as did Abraham, so cannot hang on to Methodist iD and also be Israelite, Just as the aliens who left, were not also Eqyptian, and Hyskos; they left behind, washed in the Sea of Reeds. Either be Roman Greco Christian or an Israelite.

  • Joy Mathew says:

    This teachng was very encouraging – one cannot keep the Feast Days but we are supposed to guard the Feast Days . I think the best example of this is Daniel 10 : 1 – 4 . Daniel did not eat pleasant food or wine or annoint himself with oil from Aviv 2nd to Aviv 24th I.e. during the period of the Feast of Passover .

    Shallom
    HalleluYAH

  • Michael says:

    Thank you for this timely instruction! There is a bible church I know of that attempts to keep the Passover in the US. Would they be able to be considered part of the “congregation of Israel” according to scripture?