Month: June 2021

Knowing the Ruach

How do we know the difference between the leading of the Ruach HaKodesh
and our own emotions?  How do we distinguish the guidance of YHWH
from a warm fuzzy feeling?

The Two Souls

To begin with it is important to know that man has two inclinations, an evil inclination called the “Yetzer HaRa” and a good inclination called “Yetzer Tov”.  The unusual spelling of Yetzer (“formed”) in Gen. 2:7 points us to the fat that man has within him two such inclinations.  As we read in the Talmud:

R. Nahman b. R. Hisda expounded:
What is meant by the text, Then the Lord God
formed [va-yetzer] man? [The word va-yetzer] (Gen. 2:7)
is written with two yods, to show that God created
two inclinations, one good (tov) and the other evil (ra).
(b.Ber. 61a)

It has been taught: R. Jose the Galilean says,
The righteous are swayed by their good inclination,
as it says, My heart is slain within me. (Ps. 109:22)
The wicked are swayed by their evil inclination,
as it says, Transgression speaks to the wicked,
methinks, there is no fear of God before his eyes.
(Ps. 36:1) Average people are swayed by both
inclinations, as it says, Because He stands at
the right hand of the needy, to save him from them
that judge his soul. (Ps. 109:31) Raba said: People
such as we are of the average.
(b.Ber. 61b)

Likewise we read in the Wisdom of Ben Sira:

It was He who created man in the beginning.
And He left him in the power of his own inclination (Heb: yetzer).
If you will, you can keep the commandments,
and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.
He has placed before you fire and water:
Stretch out your hand for whichever you wish.
 (Sira 15:14-16)

The word for “average” above (in b.Ber. 61b) is “benoni” referring to an “intermediate one”, one who is caught in the conflict between these two inclinations.

Paul writes of this conflict in the benoni as follows:

14 For we know that the Torah is of the spirit,
but I am of the flesh and I am sold to sin.
22 For I rejoice in the Torah of Eloah in the inward son of man.
(Romans 7:14, 22 HRV)

Because of this, we are not weary, for even if our
outer man is corrupted, yet that which [is] inside
is renewed day by day.
(2Cor. 4:16 HRV)

for the flesh desires a thing which is opposed to
the Spirit and the Spirit desires a thing that is
opposed to the flesh and the two of these are
opposed to each other, that you do not do the thing
which you desire.
(Gal. 5:17 HRV)

And as we read in the Tanya:

Just as two kings wage war over a town,
which each wishes to capture and rule,
that is to say, to dominate its inhabitants according to his will,
so that they obey him in all that he decrees for them,
so do the two souls— the Divine and the vitalising animal soul…
wage war against each other over the body and all its limbs.
(Tanya Chapter 9)

Elsewhere the Tanya says: 

The second soul of a Jew is truly a part of G-d above, as it is written, “And He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” (Gen. 2:7) and “Thou didst breathe it [the soul] into me.” And it is written in the Zohar, “He who exhales, exhales from within him,” that is to say, from his inwardness and his innermost, for it is something of his internal and innermost vitality that man emits through exhaling with force.
(Tanya 2)

This Second Soul that each believer has is a spark of the divine.  In the Tanya this second soul is called the Nefesh Elohit.  This spark of the divine is the Ruach HaKodesh:

21 And Yeshua said to them again: Shalom to you. As My Father has sent Me, also I send you.
22 And when He had said these things, He breathed on them, and said to them: Receive the Ruach HaKodesh.
(John 20:21-22 HRV)

The Anatomy of the Soul

The next thing we need to know is a little basic anatomy, not anatomy of the body, but anatomy of the soul.  By “soul” I refer to the incorporeal self.

The soul of man has two major parts, the mind (sechel) and the emotions (middot) as we read in the Tanya:

Similarly is it with the human soul, which is divided in two— sechel (intellect) and middot (emotional attributes). The intellect includes chochmah, binah and da at (ChaBaD), whilst the middot are love of G-d, dread and awe of Him, glorification of Him, and so forth. ChaBaD [the intellectual faculties] are called “mothers” and source of the middot, for the latter are “offspring” of the former.
(Tanya Chapter 3)

And as we read in 4th Maccabees:

21 Now when Elohim fashioned man, he planted in him emotions and inclinations,
22 but at the same time he enthroned the mind among the senses as a sacred governor over them all.
23 To the mind he gave the law; and one who lives subject to this will rule a kingdom that is temperate, just, good, and courageous.
(4Maccabees 2:21-23 RSV)

But now that we have laid this ground work, let us return to our original question:

How do we know the difference between the leading of the Ruach HaKodesh and our own emotions?

How do we distinguish the guidance of YHWH from a warm fuzzy feeling?

The Torah Inside

We read in the Talmud:

The Holy One, blessed be He, speak unto Israel:
“My children! I have created the yetzer hara
and I have created the Torah as its antidote”
(b.Kiddushin 30b)

The Torah is the Wisdom of YHWH.  When we receive a precept of the Torah as Wisdom and then we subject that precept of Torah to Understanding, exploring every nuance to the best of our intellectual ability, this results in Knowledge, in that the given precept of the Torah become part of our own Knowledge and thinking.  As we read in the Tanya:

Now, when an intellect conceives and comprehends a concept with its intellectual faculties, this intellect grasps the concept and encompasses it. This concept is [in turn] grasped, enveloped and enclothed within that intellect which conceived and comprehended it.

The mind, for its part, is also clothed in the concept at the time it comprehends and grasps it with the intellect. For example, when a person understands and comprehends, fully and clearly, any halachah (law) in the Mishnah or Gemara, his intellect grasps and encompasses it and, at the same time, is clothed in it. Consequently, as the particular halachah is the wisdom and will of G-d, for it was His will that when, for example, Reuben pleads in one way and Simeon in another, the verdict as between them shall be thus and thus; and even should such a litigation never have occurred, nor would it ever present itself for judgment in connection with such disputes and claims, nevertheless, since it has been the will and wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, that in the event of a person pleading this way and the other [litigant] pleading that way, the verdict shall be such and such— now therefore, when a person knows and comprehends with his intellect such a verdict in accordance with the law as it is set out in the Mishnah, Gemara, or Posekim (Codes), he has thus comprehended, grasped and encompassed with his intellect the will and wisdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, Whom no thought can grasp, nor His will and wisdom, except when they are clothed in the laws that have been set out for us. [Simultaneously] the intellect is also clothed in them [the Divine will and wisdom].

This is a wonderful union, like which there is none other, and which has no parallel anywhere in the material world, whereby complete oneness and unity, from every side and angle, could be attained.
(Tanya Chapter 5)

Moreover Torah study and observance brings forth the offspring of emotions (the middot) within us.  As we read in the Tanya:

Da’at (knowledge), the etymology of which is to be found in the verse: “And Adam knew (yada) Eve,” implies attachment and union. That is, one binds his mind with a very firm and strong bond to, and firmly fixes his thought on, the greatness of the blessed En sof, without diverting his mind [from Him]. For even one who is wise and
understanding of the greatness of the blessed En Sof, will not— unless he binds his knowledge and fixes his thought with firmness and perseverence— produce in his soul true love and fear, but only vain fancies. Therefore da’at is the basis of the middot and the source of their vitality; it contains chesed and gevurah, that is to say, love with its offshoots and fear with its offshoots.
(Tanya Chapter 3)

Specifically: the faculties of ChaBaD in his soul are clothed in the comprehension of the Torah, which he comprehends in Pardes, to the extent of his mental capacity and the supernal root of his soul. And the middot, namely fear and love, together with their offshoots and ramifications, are clothed in the fulfilment of the commandments in deed and in word, namely, in the study of Torah which is “The equivalent of all the commandments.” For love is the root of all the 248 positive commands, all originating in it and having no true foundation without it, inasmuch as he who fulfils them in truth, truly loves the name of G-d and desires to cleave to Him in truth; for one cannot truly cleave to Him except through the fulfilment of the 248 commandments which are the 248 “Organs of the King,” as it were, as is explained elsewhere; whilst fear is the root of the 365 prohibitive commands, fearing to rebel against the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He; or a still deeper fear than this— when he feels ashamed in the presence of the Divine greatness to rebel against His glory and do what is evil in His eyes, namely, any of the abominable things hated by G-d, which are the kelipot and sitra achra, which draw their nurture from man below and have their hold in him through the 365 prohibitive commands [that he violates].
(Tanya Chapter 4)

Thus when we have the Torah, the mind of Messiah within us, we have an outpouring of joy that others cannot comprehend.

So the Torah within us tells us not to sin, as we read in Romans:

7 What therefore are we saying? Is the Torah sin? Absolutely not! But I did not learn
sin except through the Torah. For I had not known covetousness, except that the Torah said, Do not covet.
(Romans 7:7)

Thus we also read in 4th Maccabees:

9b In all other matters we can recognize that reason rules the emotions.
10 For the law prevails even over affection for parents, so that virtue is not abandoned for their sakes.
11 It is superior to love for one’s wife, so that one rebukes her when she breaks the law.
12 It takes precedence over love for children, so that one punishes them for misdeeds.
13 It is sovereign over the relationship of friends, so that one rebukes friends when they act wickedly.
14 Do not consider it paradoxical when reason, through the law, can prevail even over enmity. The fruit trees of the enemy are not cut down, but one preserves the property of enemies from the destroyers and helps raise up what has fallen.
(4Maccabees 2:9b-14 RSV)

The 4th Book of Maccabees gives us an Example in Joseph:

2 It is for this reason, certainly, that the temperate Joseph is praised, because by mental effort he overcame sexual desire.
3 For when he was young and in his prime for intercourse, by his reason he nullified the frenzy of the passions.
4] Not only is reason proved to rule over the frenzied urge of sexual desire, but also over every desire.
5 Thus the law says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
6 In fact, since the law has told us not to covet, I could prove to you all the more that reason is able to control desires.
(4Maccabees 2:2-6 RSV)

The Ruach HaKodesh is guides us to observe Torah as we read in Ezekiel:

17 Therefore say, Thus says the Adonai YHWH: I will even gather you from the
peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered: and I will give you the land of Yisra’el.
18 And they shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof, and all the abominations thereof, from thence.
19 And I will give them–one heart–and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the–stony heart–out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh,
20 That they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their Elohim.
21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, says the Adonai YHWH
(Ezek. 11:17-21 HRV)

25 And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your uncleannesses and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away, the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you, a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My ordinances, and do them.
(Ezekiel 36:25-27 HRV)

And as our Messiah Yeshua taught us:

But when the Spirit of Truth has come,
She will lead you in all Truth,
for She will not speak from the mind of the nefesh:…
(Jn. 16:13a HRV)

And what is truth?  The Torah is truth (Ps. 119:142, 151)

So how do we know if we are being led by the Holy Spirit and when we are only being led by our own warm fuzzy feelings?

Shalom Chaverim,
This month has been an absolute whirlwind. In mid June my wife was hospitalized for several days. Then on June 22nd, she had a personal crisis. Her daily chronic pain was getting to her and she just could not deal with it anymore. And now, in just the last few days, two of her immediate family members who live in another state, were hospitalized with Covid-19 with Pneumonia (both within 24 hours of each other). Due to other people’s privacy, that is about all I can say about that right now (and why I am not, at this point, naming the state in question). I can only say that it became necessarily to go out of state for a few days, since these immediate family members lives were in question. (One of our daughters is house sitting for us). Fortunately a friend in the state we are visiting, has given us a place to stay while we are here. Please keep my wife (who has been under enough stress as it is) and her immediate family in your prayers. Despite having a place to stay, we have faced a lot of added expenses this month, including gas for this trip and food away from home). All of this and the rent is due tomorrow! If you can donate, today is a great day to do so.

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. I work at a desk less than six feet from her bed. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.

Is the Torah an Unbearable Yoke?
(Acts 15:10-11 & Matt. 11:28-30)
By
James Scott Trimm

Often when I share with Christians that the Torah is everlasting, for all generations, they respond by saying something like, “The Law was an unbearable yoke, the Messiah’s yoke is easy and brings rest to our souls.” By this they allude to Acts 15:10-11 and Matthew 11:28-30, two passages which have been very misunderstood.

Lets begin by looking at Acts 15:10-11 and Matthew 11:28-30 as they read in the KJV:

10 Now therefore why tempt ye God,
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
we shall be saved, even as they.
(Acts 15:10-11 KJV)

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(Matt. 11:28-30 KJV)

Now many of the teachers of Torah-lessness use these passages as proof texts. To them these passage refer to freedom from the bondage of Torah. However the “yoke” which is unbearable in Acts 15:10-11 cannot be the Torah.

In fact this is clear by comparing with, and closely examining Matthew 11:28-30. A portion of Yeshua’s statement in Matthew 11 is a quotation from the Tanak. A quotation which gives a great deal of context to Yeshua’s statement. Lets look at this Tanak passage:

Thus said YHWH, stand you in the ways, and see,
and ask for the old paths, where is the good way,
and walk therein, and you shall find rest for
your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein.
(Jer. 6:16)

Notice that this “way” which gives “rest” is “the old path”. Now lets read a little further down in Jer. 6 to obtain more context:

But they said, we will not walk therein (Jer. 6:16)…
…they have not hearkened unto my words,
nor to my Torah, but rejected it.
(Jer. 6:19)

Notice that the “old path” that brings “rest for your souls” to which they said “we will not walk therein” (Jer. 6:16) is identified by YHWH as “my Torah”. This takes us up a bit further in the text of Jeremiah:

…they are foolish, for they do not know
the way of YHWH, the requirements of
their Elohim. So I will go to the leaders and
speak to them; surely they know the way
of YHWH, the requirements of their Elohim.”
But with one accord they too had broken
off the yoke and torn off the bonds.
(Jer. 5:4-5 see also Jer. 2:20)

Here we find that the “yoke” which brings rest is the yoke which was being rejected. The yoke of Torah. The yoke that Messiah asks us to take on ourselves, the yoke that will give us rest for our souls is the Torah. The Torah is freedom from the bondage of Torah-lessness. The freedom of Torah is freedom from the bondage to sin that results without Torah. Without Torah there is no true freedom, only bondage. True liberty does not include a license to sin. As Paul writes:

And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported,
and as some affirm that we say,)
Let us do evil, that good may come?
whose damnation is just.
(Rom. 3:8 KJV)

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?…
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
(Rom. 6:1-2, 15 KJV)

And as we read elsewhere:

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law:
for sin is the transgression of the law.
(1Jn. 3:4 KJV)

The Scriptural definition of sin, is transgression of the Torah, and the freedom of being under grace does not include a freedom to trangress the Torah.

The easy yoke of Messiah that brings rest to our souls is the Torah, and therefore the Torah cannot be the yoke that we are not able to bear in Acts 15:10-11. The yoke that we are not able to bear in Acts 15 is the false teaching that salvation can be earned through Torah observance (including the act of circumcision) and not Torah observance itself, which is an easy yoke and light burden which brings rest to our souls.

We need your help today! Our rent is due tomorrow, and right now our account is “pending” $509 in the negative!

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org or Zelle or Go Fund Me.

Funds sent thru Go Fund Me take a couple of days to reach us. Since funds are badly needed today, if possible, please donate today by Paypal or Zelle, as these funds reach us nearly immediately.

Click HERE to donate

Preface: Clearly the Emissary Paul died many centuries ago.  This is a hypothetical simulated interview.  I will do my best job to draw Paul’s words directly from Scripture.

Interviewer:  Now you have been said to be a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.  Is that an accurate statement?

Paul:  Yes, I am a follower of that Way which you call a “sect”. (Acts 24:5, 14)

Interviewer: Some have called you a “Christian” is that accurate?

Paul:  I wrote two thirds of what has since come to be called the “New Testament” and in all of that material, I never even used the word “Christian” not even once to describe myself or anyone else.  That word is not even part of my vocabulary.  I am a Jew, a Pharisee, and a follower of that Way which is called the Sect of the Nazarenes.

Interviewer:  So then, in your own words, how would you describe yourself?
Paul:  I am a Jew, a Pharisee of Pharisees.  (Acts 21:39; 22:3; 23:6)

Interviewer:  Some have accused you of being a Hellenist. Is that accurate?

Paul:  Not at all. I am a Hebrew of Hebrews. (Phil. 3:5; Acts 6:1)

Interviewer:  Some have said that you wrote your books in Greek. Do you even know Greek?

Paul:  I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia.  I speak Hebrew. (Acts 21:37-40)

Interviewer:  It has been said by many that you taught that the Torah had been abolished.  Is that true?

Paul:  Absolutely not! These reports are slanderous. Neither against the Jewish Torah, nor against the Temple have I offended in anything at all.  I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers.  Its not the hearers of the Torah that will be just before Elohim,but the doers of the Torah.  We maintain the Torah! (Rom. 3:8; 6:1-2, 15; Acts 25:8; 28:17; Rom. 2:13; 3:31)

Interviewer:  It has been said that you opposed Circumcision. Do you think there is any advantage to being circumcised?

Paul: Yes, much in every way! (Rom. 3:1-2)

Interviewer:  Some have sought to incorporate pagan holidays into the faith, what do you say about this?

Paul:  These persons have turned back to weak and elemental spirits which they had been in bondage to before they knew Elohim (or at least before Elohim knew them).  It makes me wonder if I have wasted my time in teaching this message.  (Gal. 4:8-11)

Interviewer:  So what is your opinion of the Torah then?

Paul:  The Torah is set-apart, just and good. (Rom. 7:12)

I hope that this brief interview with Paul will prompt you to study the Scriptures cited above, and get a true view of the real Paul.

We need your help today! Our rent is due in just two days, and we do not have it!

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org or by Zelle or Go Fund Me.

Click HERE to donate

Shalom Chaverim,

For those who have asked for an update, we are home. On Tuesday they gave her a cardio stress test and she had a seizure during the test. This prompted them to bring in a neurologist and run a number of neurology related tests as well. In the end, they believe that the problems she is having are related to some of her past problems, complications of complications and one medical problem leading to another. The issue is not resolved, but at this point, they do not think it is life threatening that she needs to be in the hospital. They have her following up with four different specialists as well as her primary care physician, in coming days.

As our 31st anniversary approaches in July, I am reminded just how much our lives have changed over those 31 years. Thirty one years ago, Inga “Kitty” was very healthy. We rode bikes together, went hiking in trails together and even did archery together. All that has changed.

As I have said, one of the hardest parts about being married to my wife, is seeing her in pain, and not being able to help. My wife suffers from chronic pain every day. The extensive abdominal surgeries she had from 2015 to 2018, and the septic shock in 2018 have left her in chronic pain. Every morning, when she can no longer sleep through it, pain wakes her up. And each night she cannot sleep until she is so exhausted that she can sleep through the pain. And so I am her constant caretaker. If she drops something on the floor, I go over and pick it up, because it is to painful for her abdomen to bend over and pick it up. Just getting up and going to the bath room or taking a bath is a matter of playing through the pain for her. Pain follows her everywhere and is her constant companion, she can never completely get away from it. She once kept up on the house, cooked meals etc. But she can no longer do any of those things. I keep the house and cook the meals, and I work at a desk just a few feet from her bed.

We are now home. Finances are tight. There were added expenses and co-pays due to the hospital stay, and we are facing more as she follows up with a multitude of doctor appointments in coming days. All of this and bills are due.

Now that I am home again, I have a lot of catching up to do.

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.

or click here

Lesson 10 Handouts

We need your support in the next 48 hours especially. Several bills, including our electric will be hitting our account soon, and my wife’s recent hospitalization has cost us in copays and my meals at the hospital.

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. I work at a desk less than six feet from her bed. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.

or click here

Mt. 9:14-17 is a very misunderstood passage.

Here I will take issue with David Stern’s Jewish New Testament Commentary on Mt. 9:16 and 9:17.

On this material David Stern is dead wrong!

His identification of “old coat” = “Judaism” and “unshrunk cloth” as “messianic faith” is completely unfounded and has absolutely no basis in the text. It is merely an echo of the wildly inaccurate eisogesis of the text made by replacement theology Christians.

The same is true of his identification of “new wine” = “messianic fath” and “old wineskins” = “traditional Judaism” in verse 17.

Stern has done the best to adapt the EISOGESIS of Replacement Theology
Christian commentators to somehow be fitted into his theology (and it does not work).

There is no need. The text here has NOTHING to do with this EISOGESIS.

Let us apply the seventh rule of Hillel and read the text in context:

I will use a modified KJV reading:

Then came to him the talmidim of Yochanan, saying,
Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,
but your talmidim fast not?
(9:14)

That establishes the subject. The topic is not Judaism vs. Messianic faith
or Judaism vs, Christianity. The subject is why Yeshua’s talmidim are not
fasting.

And Yeshua said to them,

Can the children of the bridechamber mourn,
as long as the bride groom is with them?
but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them,
and then they shall fast.

No man puts a piece of new cloth onto an old garment,
for that which is put in to fill it up takes from the garment,
and the rent is made worse.

Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins;
else the wineskins burst, and the wine runs out,
and the wineskins perish
but they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

Notice the poetic parallelism.

Notice that their are three sets of lines and that each begins with a
parallel statement:

Can the children of the bride chamber mourn,
as long as the bride groom is with them?…

No man puts a piece of new cloth onto an old garment,…

Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins;…

Yeshua is answering the question posed to him “why do not your talmidim fast?”

He replies that they do not because the bridegroom is still with them, but that they will fast later when he is gone.

Yeshua does not say that fasting (an observance of the Torah) has been abolished, to the contrary he indicates that it will be time to fast when he is gone.

Then he gives two illustrations of things that are inappropriate but become appropriate later.

Thus the identification is:

new piece of cloth = new wine = fasting

old garment = old wineskin = Messiah present with us

The identification of the Messiah with the wineskin is also in keeping with a similar allegory found in the Mishnah (m.Avot 4:20) in which a teacher of Torah is likened to a wineskin:

…He who learns from children– what is he like?
he who eats sour grapes and drinks new wine.

And he who learns from old men– what is he like?
he who eats ripe grapes and drinks old wine.

You can have a new wineskin full of old wine,
and an old wineskin which has not even new wine in it.

Now Yeshua claimed that his teaching was older than himself (Yochanan 7:16) This ties into the traditional understanding of a teacher as a wineskin and his teaching as wine. Yeshua’s teaching was here with us while he was here and thus it was not a time to fast but to drink the wine and rejoice.

In fact the teaching here indicates that his talmidim would be fasting (an observance of Jewish Law) after he left.

We must raise at least $375 by the end of the day today (5/15/23) to prevent our account from plunging into the negative tonight and starting a cascade of returned items and fees!

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. I work at a desk less than six feet from her bed. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org

Or click HERE to donate

Chapter 9 Handouts

We must still raise at least $300 by the end of the day today or our account will go into the negative tonight (and that would be very bad)!

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. I work at a desk less than six feet from her bed. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.

or click here

As many of you may know, there are five fragments of an ancient Nazarene commentary which survive only in Latin as quoted by the fourth Century Latin “Church Father” Jerome, in his own Commentary on Isaiah. Jerome was also famously the translator of the Latin Vulgate, the standardized Latin version of the Bible.

The commentary itself takes the form of a combination of a Targum and a Qumran-style Pesherim Commentary.

The Targums were Aramaic paraphrases of the books of the Tanak, often so paraphrased as to contain interpretations that would rise to the level of commentary.

The Qumran style “Pesherim Commentaries“. There are well described in The Dead Sea Scrolls, a New Translation by Wise, Abegg and Cook:

Very characteristic of the Dead Sea sect was the view that the Bible was a puzzle to be solved or an enigma to be unraveled. Its characteristic word for the activity of interpretation was pesher, which as a rule refers to the interpretation of dreams. The biblical Daniel serves as the ideal interpreter of this type: he interprets dreams (Dan. 2,4) and visions (the “handwriting on the wall,” Dan. 5) not through native ability, but because God has revealed the secrets to him. The Qumran scribes understood their task in the same way: to penetrate the secrets of Scripture not through reflection on the text itself, but through openness to the revelation of God.
(The Dead Sea Scrolls; A New Translation; Wise, Abegg and Cook, First Edition, 1996, p. 114)

Since the Isaiah Commentary only exists as excerpts quoted in Jerome’s Commentary on Isaiah, it is impossible to know whether its original form was a flowing text parallel to that of Isaiah (like the format of a Targum), or like that of the “Continuous Pesherim“, in which a book of Scripture is interrupted at intervals with a phrase like “The Pesher (interpretation) is:”

English versions of the fragments of the Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah have circulated for years, even decades. However these translations are fraught with error and inaccuracies. The modern restoration of Nazarene Judaism requires a restoration of this ancient Nazarene Commentary, into its original Hebrew or Aramaic. Hebrew was more likely if it was a Pesher Commentary and Aramaic was the likely language of it was a Targum. All things being considered, I believe the Commentary is best preserved as a Continuous Pesher Commentary in Hebrew with an English translation. However restoring the original Hebrew cannot adequately be done from an English translation of a Jerome’s Latin translation of whatever source Jerome had. Fortunately I have obtained Jerome’s Latin for each of these five fragments, and have reconstructed the underlying Hebrew behind the Latin. There are several surprises that this process has uncovered. Suffice it to say, that the English translations of the Latin we have been using, are woefully inadequate.

Not only do I feel this reconstruction is a necessarily part of the restoration of Nazarene Judaism, but I also wanted to have this restored material available for use in my own online commentary on Isaiah which I will be filling in here a little and there a little in my own online commentary on the Scriptures.

The restored commentary also allows us insight into portions of Isaiah not directly covered in what remains of the commentary. The commentary often defines, within the scope of its pesher interpretation, key terms that appear throughout Isaiah, such as “the terrible one” and “the Assyrian”, which may shed light on other passages as well, and I will be incorporating these insights into my own commentary as well (for example in my recent added comments to Isaiah 52:1-6 which references “the Assyrian.”)

I will be creating a permanent page for them in the future, but in the meantime they are here:

Pesher to Isaiah 8:14

Pesher to Isaiah 8:19-22

Pesher to Isaiah 9:1-4

Pesher to Isaiah 29:20-21

Pesher to Isaiah 31:6-9

And you can view my own online Scripture Commentaries by clicking here. (I recently completed extensive commentary to Isaiah 52 and 53.

Now that the Ancient Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah has been restored, I can return to the work of restoring the Four Gospels and the all important Fifth Gospel which is “According to the Hebrews” (more on that soon)

The rent just barely cleared our account lst night, leaving us with just over $10! More bills will be hitting our account in coming days (even tomorrow) and we are virtually broke, so please donate if you can!

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. I work at a desk less than six feet from her bed. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.

or click here

In a recent blog I told you I was working on a project to restore five fragments of an ancient Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah, from five Latin fragments preserved in quotations in Jerome’s Commentary on Isaiah.

Here is the fifth and final of the five fragments (On Isaiah 31:6-9) restored to Hebrew with an English translation:

6 Turn you unto Him against whom you have deeply rebelled,
O children of Yisra’el.
7 For in that day they shall cast away every man,
his idols of silver, and his idols of gold,
which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
8 Then shall Assyria fall with the sword–not of man–
and the sword not of men, shall devour him:
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall become tributary.
9 And his rock shall pass away by reason of terror,
and his princes shall be dismayed at the ensign, says YHWH,
whose fire is in Tziyon,
and His furnace in Yerushalayim.
(Isaiah 31:6-9 HRV)

פשרו שובו אליו ולשליחיו את בני ישראל אשר ביד עצה רעה מכחישים בן אלהים כי אם תשובו אז ימאסון בל האלילים אשר קדם החטיא אתכם ונפל לפניך את השטן לא בגברכם כי אם בחסד של אלהים ובחוריו אשר קדם בעדו ויהיו עבדי קהילה וגברו וסלעו יעבור ויחזור אחורה הפילוסופים של כל התועים את הנס הצליבה כי זה חק יהוה יעשה אשר אור לו בציון ותנור לו בירושלם

Its interpretation: Sons of Israel, which through bad council deny the Son of Elohim, turn to Him and His Emissaries. For if you will repent then you will cast away all idols which before caused you to sin, and HaSatan will fall before you, not because of your power, but because of the mercy of Elohim.  And his young men, who before fought for him, will become servants of the Assembly and his power and stone will pass.  And the Philosophers of every error will turn their backs to the miracle of the crucifixion.  Because this decree of YHWH shall be done, whose fire [or light] is in Tzion and his furnace in Yerushalayim.

Some have translated crucis signum as “sign of the cross” however the underlying Hebrew may be better understood as “miracle of the circumcision”.

The rent must clear our account tonight! We need your support!

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. I work at a desk less than six feet from her bed. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org.

or click here

A misunderstanding common in the church today is the concept that Torah and Grace are mutually exclusive ideas. For example one author writes:

A believer can not be under law and
under grace at the same time.
(God’s Plan of the Ages; Louis T. Tallbot; 1970; p. 83)

Now let us be noble Bereans to see if this is true. Let us ask ourselves: “How were people saved in ‘Old Testament’ times? Were they saved by works or by grace?

The fact is that often when Paul speaks of how we are saved by grace through faith he often cites the Tanak to prove his point. Two of his favorite proof texts for this concept are from the Tanak:

And he believed in YHWH;
and he counted it to him as righteousness.
(Gen. 15:6 = Rom. 4:3, 22; Gal. 3:6)

…the just shall live by his faith.
(Hab. 2:4 = Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11)

So Paul is arguing from the Tanak that one is saved by faith alone apart from works. In fact the real truth is that men of the “Old Testament” times were just as under grace as we are today:

But Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH.
(Gen. 6:8)

…you have also found grace in my sight….
…for you have found grace in my sight…
(Ex. 33:12, 17)

…and now I have found grace in your sight…
(Judges 6:17)

The people… found grace in the wilderness…
(Jer. 31:2)

Thus as noble Bereans we learn from the Tanak that people in “Old Testament” times were saved by grace through faith. They could not have earned their salvation any more than we could today, as Paul writes:

Knowing that a man is not justified by works
of the law, but by the faith of Yeshua the Nessiah,
even we have believed in Yeshua the Messiah,
that we might be justified by the faith of Messiah,
and not by works of the law; and by the works
of the law shall no flesh be saved.
(Gal. 2:16)

In fact the “New Testament” contains more commandments than the “Old Testament”. The New Testament contains 1050 commandments as delineated in Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible; By Finnis Jennings Dake; N.T. pp.313-316] while the “Old Testament” Mosaic Law contains only 613 (b.Makkot 23b). Thus faith and grace are in the “Old Testament” and law and works can be found in the New Testament. People in Old Testament times were saved by grace through faith just like people in New Testament times. Now many anomians will agree to this fact on the surface, but lets follow this thought through to its fullest conclusion. Lets go beyond the surface and really think this through. If what we have shown to be true is true, then the people in the wilderness in the days of Moses were saved by grace through faith. Now lets look at the full impact of that statement. That means that people were under grace, and saved by faith alone and not by works, when Moses was stoning people to death for violating the Torah! Obviously then being saved by grace through faith in no way affects Torah observance.

So if grace and faith do not negate the observance of Torah, then what is the true nature of faith and grace? What is faith? What is grace? Let us once again turn to the scriptures for answers.

Now part of the reason that many people have come to think that there is more “grace” in the New Testament than in the Old Testament is a translation bias in the KJV and many other English versions.

There are two words for “grace” in the Hebrew Tanak. The first word is CHEN (Strong’s 2580/2581) which means “grace or charm”. The other word is CHESED (Strong’s 2616/2617 ) which carries the meaning of “grace, mercy or undue favor.”

These two words closely parallel the meanings of the two Greek words used for grace in the Greek Bible. These are CHARIS (Strong’s 5485/5463) which means “grace or charm” and ELEOS (Strong’s 1651/1653) meaning “grace, mercy or undue favor.”

Obviously Hebrew CHEN = Greek CHARIS and Hebrew CHESED = Greek ELEOS. Now the KJV tends to translate CHEN/CHARIS as “grace” but tends to translate CHESED/ELEOS as “mercy”. Now when we think of “grace” in biblical terms we are usually thinking of the concept of CHESED/ELEOS “undue favor”.

Now if we follow with the KJV translation scheme then it appears that there is much more grace in the New Testament than the Tanak, since CHEN only appears 70 times in the Tanak while CHARIS appears 233 times in the New Testament. But remember, the concept of “undue favor” is actually CHESED/ELEOS. CHESED appears 251 times in the Tanak, while ELEOS appears only 50 times in the New Testament. If anything there is far more “grace” in the Tanak than in the New Testament.

Now let us turn to the Tanak to get a better understanding of what grace really is. According to the Scriptures there is a close connection between “grace” and the “fear of YHWH”:

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his grace (CHESED)
toward those who fear him.
(Psalm 103:11)

Oh let those who fear YHWH say,
“His grace (CHESED) is everlasting.
(Psalm 118:4)

By grace (CHESED) and truth
iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of YHWH
one keeps away from evil.
(Proverbs 16:6)

And the fear of YHWH, according to the Tanak, includes Torah observance:

…that he may learn the fear of YHWH his God,
to keep all the words of this Torah
and these statutes, to do them:
(Deut. 17:19)

…that they may hear, and that they may learn,
and fear YHWH your God,
and observe to do all the words of this Torah.
(Deut. 31:12)

Therefore there is clealy no conflict between grace and Torah. In fact the Torah is closely connected to grace.

The next word we need to examine is “faith”. The Hebrew word is EMUNAH. EMUNAH can mean “belief, faith or trust” and is best translated “trusting faithfulness”. When we speak of “faith” in YHWH we are not merely speaking about “belief” but “trusting faithfulness”. If someone were to ask you if you are faithful to your spouse, you would not reply by saying “Yes, I believe my spouse exists.” That is because it is cleanly not an issue of what you believe but in whether you are faithful. Imagine a man who stays out late at night every night committing adultery with various women. Each night he comes home to his wife and tells her how much he loves her, and insists that since he believes in her existence that he therefore is faithful to her. Is this man faithful to his wife? Absolutely not! This understanding is confirmed to us in the Scriptures as follows:

Remove the false way from me,
and graciously grant me your Torah.
I have chosen the way of faith;
I have placed your ordinances before me.
(Psalm 119:29-30)

Now I want to make it clear that we are not saying that one earns ones
salvation by keeping Torah. At times I have been asked “Do I have to keep Torah to be saved?”. I reply by saying “Of course not…. do you have to get cleaned up to take a bath?”

You may ask, “Well if we don’t keep the Torah for salvation, then why do we keep the Torah?” First of all, keeping the Torah SHOWS our faith (Titus 3:5-8; 1Jn. 2:3-7; James 2:14-26). Secondly there are rewards for keeping the Torah (Titus 3:8). The Psalms tell us that it “restores the soul” (Ps. 19:7). Yeshua promises that those who keep the Torah and teach others to do so will be called first in the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 5:19). Additionally, Jews who keep the Mosaic Torah are given a long list of other promises (Deut. 28).

Now if the Torah is good and everlasting then it stands to reason that it should be observed. Paul tells us that we should not use grace as an excuse to sin (Rom. 6:1-2, 15) and that the only way to know sin is through the Torah (Rom. 7:7). Yeshua tells us that if we love him we will keep his commandments (Jn. 14:15, 21, 23-25; 15:10). The fact that we are saved by faith is all the more reason that we should keep the Torah, as the Scriptures tell us:

..not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing
of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom
he poured out on us abundantly through Yeshua the Messiah
our Savior, that having been justified by his grace we should
become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a
faithful saying, and I want you to affirm constantly, that
those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain
good works. These things are good and profitable to men.
(Titus 3:5-8)

And by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, “I know him,” and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in him ought himself to walk just as he

walked. Brothers, I write no new commandment to you,
but an old commandment which you have had from the
beginning. The old commandment is the word which you
heard from the beginning.
(1Jn. 2:3-7)

Funds are running low and we need your help today. Our hot Texas August electric bill ($530) is due, and we do not have it!

I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!

This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. So I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.

But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

Donations can be sent by Paypal to donations@wnae.org or Zelle or Go Fund Me.

Click HERE to donate