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Rosh HaShanna and the Akeda
By
James Scott Trimm

Each year at Rosh HaShanna we greet one another with the blessing “may your name be written in the Book of Life” and we blow the shofar [ram’s horn].  But why do we blow the ram’s horn and not some other kind of trumpet?  And what does the shofar have to do with the Book of Life?  We read in the Talmud:

R. Abbahu said: Why do we blow on a ram’s horn? The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Sound before Me a ram’s horn so that I may remember on your behalf the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham, and account it to you as if you had bound yourselves before Me.
(b.Rosh HaShanna 16a)

The account of the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22:1-13) is known as the Akedah.  We blow the shofar to petition YHWH to recall on our behalf, the Akedah.  But why?

The Zohar tells us that the event recorded at the opening of the Book of Job where Satan tested Job, was on a Rosh HaShanna:

R. Eleazar then discoursed on the verse: And there was a day when the sons of God came to stand before the Lord, and Satan came also among them (Job I, 6). ‘This “day” ‘, said he, ‘was New Year’s Day, on which the Holy One sits in judgement on the world.
(Zohar 2:32b)

Observe that on New Year’s Day the world is brought to trial before the holy Judgement Seat; and there stands on one side the evil spirit who regards intently and makes a record of all those that are doomed to death. But at the moment that Israel awakens mercy by means of the sound of the trumpet (shofar) he becomes altogether confused and distracted, and turns his gaze away from the doomed ones.
(Zohar 2:237b-238a)

The Book of Jasher contains a prelude to the Akeda which parallels the event at the opening of Job:

46 And the day arrived when the sons of God came and placed themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with the sons of God before the Lord.
47 And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? and Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
48 And the Lord said to Satan, What is thy word to me concerning all the children of the earth? and Satan answered the Lord and said, I have seen all the children of the earth who serve thee and remember thee when they require anything from thee.
49 And when thou givest them the thing which they require from thee, they sit at their ease, and forsake thee and they remember thee no more.
50 Hast thou seen Abraham the son of Terah, who at first had no children, and he served thee and erected altars to thee wherever he came, and he brought up offerings upon them, and he proclaimed thy name continually to all the children of the earth.
51 And now that his son Isaac is born to him, he has forsaken thee, he has made a great feast for all the inhabitants of the land, and the Lord he has forgotten.
52 For amidst all that he has done he brought thee no offering; neither burnt offering nor peace offering, neither ox, lamb nor goat of all that he killed on the day that his son was weaned.
53 Even from the time of his son’s birth till now, being thirty-seven years, he built no altar before thee, nor brought any offering to thee, for he saw that thou didst give what he requested before thee, and he therefore forsook thee.
54 And the Lord said to Satan, Hast thou thus considered my servant Abraham? for there is none like him upon earth, a perfect and an upright man before me, one that feareth God and avoideth evil; as I live, were I to say unto him, Bring up Isaac thy son before me, he would not withhold him from me, much more if I told him to bring up a burnt offering before me from his flock or herds.
55 And Satan answered the Lord and said, Speak then now unto Abraham as thou hast said, and thou wilt see whether he will not this day transgress and cast aside thy words.
(Jasher 22:46-55)

There is an interesting parallel to this prelude in the Dead Sea Scrolls:

And a son of love was born to Abraham and he named him Isaac. Now  the Prince of Malevolence (Mastemah) came to God and brought his  animosity to bear against Abraham because of Isaac….
(4Q225)

This is why Gen. 22:1 says that Abraham was being “tested” or “tried” just as Job had been tested.  This also tells us that this event took place on a Rosh HaShanna, and thus why we would remind YHWH of the Akeda in connection with Rosh HaShanna.

So let us study the Akeda and see what it can teach us:

[1] And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
[2] And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
[3] And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
[4] Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
[5] And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you,
[6] And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
[7] And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
[8] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
[9] And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
[10] And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
[11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
[12] And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
[13] And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
[14] And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
(Gen. 22:1-14 KJV)

Notice that in verse 8 Abraham says that YHWH would provide a “lamb” but in verse 13 the substitute is a “ram”.  The remez (Implication) is that the ram is only representative of the lamb that YHWH will provide.  The text may also be read that YHWH will provide Himself as the substitute “lamb”.


Philo: The Lamb is the Word

The first century Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria understood the Akeda on a drash level as an allegory by which Avraham was prepared to offer up to YHWH his “self-taught wisdom” (represented by Isaac) but YHWH instead substituted the LOGOS “The Word” or “divine reason” represented by the ram:

(4) For the appropriate progeny of God are the perfect virtues, but that offspring which is akin to the wicked, is unregulated wickedness. But learn thou, if thou wilt, O my mind, not to bear children to thyself, after the example of that perfect man Abraham, who offered up to God “The beloved and only legitimate offspring of his soul,” the most conspicuous image of self-taught wisdom, by name Isaac; and who gave him up with all cheerfulness to be a necessary and fitting offering to God. “Having bound,” as the scripture says, this new kind of victim, either because he, having once tasted of the divine inspiration, did not condescend any longer to tread on any mortal truth, or because he saw that the creature was unstable and moveable, while he recognised the unhesitating firmness existing in the living God, on whom he is said to have believed.
(On the Unchangeableness of God 4)

(133) Let us therefore consider what it is that he who is seeking doubts about, and what he who answers reveals, and in the third place what the thing is which was found. Now what the inquirer asks is something of this kind:–Behold the efficient cause, the fire; behold also the passive part, the material, the wood. Where is the third party, the thing to be effected? (134) As if he said, –Behold the mind, the fervid and kindled spirit; behold also the objects of intelligence, as it were so much material or fuel; where is the third thing, the act of perceiving? Or, again, –Behold the sight, behold the colour, where is the act of seeing? And, in short, generally, behold the external sense, behold the thing to be judge of; but where are the objects of the external sense, the material, the exertion of the feeling? (135) To him who puts these questions, answer is very properly made, “God will provide for himself.” For the third thing is the peculiar work of God; for it is owing to his providential arrangement that the mind comprehends, and the sight sees, and that every external sense is exerted. “And a ram is found caught by his horns;” that is to say, reason (LOGOS “The Word”) is found silent and withholding its assent; (136) for silence is the most excellent of offerings, and so is a withholding of assent to those matters of which there are not clear proofs; therefore this is all that ought to be said, “God will provide for himself,”–he to whom all things are known, who illuminates the universe by the most brilliant of all lights, himself. But the other things are not to be said by creatures over whom great darkness is poured; but quiet is a means of safety in darkness.
(On Flight and Finding 133-136)

(At a future date I will write a more detailed analysis of Philo’s fascinating understanding of the Akeda)

In another passage Philo reveals that he also understands the “Word” (LOGOS) to be synonymous with the Messiah:

“The head of all things is the eternal Word (Logos) of the eternal God, under which, as if it were his feet or other limbs, is placed the whole world, over which He passes and firmly stands. Now it is not because Messiah is Lord that He passes and sits over the whole world, for His seat with His Father and God but because for its perfect fullness the world is in need of the care and superintendence of the best ordered dispensation, and for its own complete piety, of the Divine Word (Logos), just as living creatures (need) a head, without which it is impossible to live.”
(Q&A on Exodus, II, 117)

The Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World

The Book of Jasher tells us that this ram had been preserved since creation for this moment:

70 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, a ram was caught in a thicket by his horns; that was the ram which the Lord God had created in the earth in the day that he made earth and heaven.
71 For the Lord had prepared this ram from that day, to be a burnt offering instead of Isaac.
(Jasher 23:70-71)

Likewise Rashi says in his commentary to verse 13 “and lo! there was a ram: It was prepared for this since the six days of Creation.”

And we read of this verse in the Zohar:

ABRAHAM LIFTED UP HIS EYES AND LOOKED AND BEHELD BEHIND HIM A RAM, ETC. We have been taught that that ram was created at twilight (on the sixth day of Creation), and he was of the first year, as it is written, “one he-lamb of the first year” (Num. VII, 63), thus being according to requirement. But if so, how could he have been created at twilight? The truth is that from that time it was pre-ordained that that ram should be at hand at the moment when Abraham should require it. The same applies to all those things said to have come into being “at twilight”, which in reality means that they were then predestined to appear at the requisite moment.
(Zohar 1:120b)

This reminds us of a Baraita that appears in the Talmud concerning the Yayin MaMeshumar (wine that has been kept):

What is the meaning of “Eye has not seen” (Is. 64:3)
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said:
This is the wine that has been kept
in its grapes from the six days in the beginning.
(b.Berakot 34b; b.Sanhedrin 99a)

The Midrash Rabbah identified this wine with the blood of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 who is, like the ram, a burnt offering (Is. 53:10)

Because he bared his soul unto death (Is. 53:12)
and bruised themselveswith the Torah which is sweeter than honey,
the Holy One, blessed be He, will hereafter give them to drink
of the wine kept in its grapes since the six days in the beginning….
(Midrash Rabbah to Numbers 13:2 (500))

This lamb that YHWH provides is certainly the Lamb spoken of in Revelations where we read in connection with the Book of Life:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
(Rev. 13:8)


The Temptation

Just at HaSatan attempted to tempt Messiah to abandon his mission, so also did he tempt both Abraham and Isaac to abandon their mission of the Akeda:

25 And whilst Abraham was proceeding with his son Isaac along the road, Satan came and appeared to Abraham in the figure of a very aged man, humble and of contrite spirit, and he approached Abraham and said to him, Art thou silly or brutish, that thou goest to do this thing this day to thine only son?
26 For God gave thee a son in thy latter days, in thy old age, and wilt thou go and slaughter him this day because he committed no violence, and wilt thou cause the soul of thine only son to perish from the earth?
27 Dost thou not know and understand that this thing cannot be from the Lord? for the Lord cannot do unto man such evil upon earth to say to him, Go slaughter thy child.
28 And Abraham heard this and knew that it was the word of Satan who endeavored to draw him aside from the way of the Lord, but Abraham would not hearken to the voice of Satan, and Abraham rebuked him so that he went away.
29 And Satan returned and came to Isaac; and he appeared unto Isaac in the figure of a young man comely and well favored.
30 And he approached Isaac and said unto him, Dost thou not know and understand that thy old silly father bringeth thee to the slaughter this day for naught?
31 Now therefore, my son, do not listen nor attend to him, for he is a silly old man, and let not thy precious soul and beautiful figure be lost from the earth.
32 And Isaac heard this, and said unto Abraham, Hast thou heard, my father, that which this man has spoken? even thus has he spoken.
33 And Abraham answered his son Isaac and said to him, Take heed of him and do not listen to his words, nor attend to him, for he is Satan, endeavoring to draw us aside this day from the commands of God.
34 And Abraham still rebuked Satan, and Satan went from them, and seeing he could not prevail over them he hid himself from them, and he went and passed before them in the road; and he transformed himself to a large brook of water in the road, and Abraham and Isaac and his two young men reached that place, and they saw a brook large and powerful as the mighty waters.
(Jasher 23:25-34)

One cannot help but see the parallel between this temptation, and HaSatan’s attempt to tempt Messiah as recorded in the Gospels (Matthew 4:1-11 and parallels).


In a Tree

Just as the Ketuvim Netzarim refers to the instrument of Yeshua’s crucifixion as a “tree” on five occasions (Acts 5:30, 10:39, 13:29, Galatians 3:13 and 1 Peter 2:24) the Targum Onkelos refers to the “thicket” in which the ram was caught as a “tree”.  This is because the Hebrew word for “tree” (ETZ) can also mean “wood” or “lumber” and can be used to refer to the wooden gallows on which a person was executed (As in Ester 9:25).


I and My Father are One

In the Akeda we are twice told that Abraham and Isaac were “together” (verses 6 and 8).  The literal Hebrew in these verses means “united” (Yachad) and is closely related to the Hebrew word ECHAD.  Certainly it was the Akeda that Yeshua brought to his audience’s minds when he said:

[18] No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
[19] There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
[20] And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
[21] Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
[22] And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
[23] And Yeshua walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.
[24] Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Messiah, tell us plainly.
[25] Yeshua answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
[26] But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
[27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
[28] And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
[29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
[30] I and my Father are one.
(John 10:18-30)

The Zohar gives a lengthy interpretation of Gen. 22:1f (Zohar 1:119b-120b) which likewise sees in the Akeda as symbolism of the unity of the three pillars of the godhead represented by Abraham (Severity); Isaac (Mercy) and Jacob (harmony) with the idea that Abraham saw Jacob “afar” (Gen. 22:4).

He Carried the ETZ Himself

Another significant parallel between the crucifixion of Yeshua and the Akeda is that just as Yeshua would carry his own wooden gallows, Isaac carried his own wood (Hebrew ETZ translated “gallows” in Ester 9:25).  In Hebrew both men carried their won ETZ.


Elohim was Able to Raise Him Up

In Hebrews Paul writes of the Akeda saying:

[17] By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
[18] Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
[19] Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
(Heb. 11:17-18 KJV)

There is a tradition concerning the Akeda associating I with the daily liturgy of the Amidah, claiming that Isaac actually died and was resurrected:

Rabbi Judah said: When the sword reached his neck, Isaac’s soul fled and left his body. But, when the Lord caused His voice to be heard from between the two cherubs saying, “Do not stretch out your hand against the child and do not do anything at all to him,” his soul returned to his body and Isaac stood up on his feet. Isaac knew that this is how the dead will be resurrected, and so he opened [his mouth] and said, “Blessed are You, ‘Adonay, Who resurrects the dead.”
(Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 30 [in some translations, chapter 31])


Conclusion

So now you know why we blow the shofar to petition YHWH to remember on our behalf the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham, and account it to us as if we had bound ourselves before Him.  The incarnate Word was a burnt offering and his death is accounted as if it was our own, that our names might be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!

So this year blow your shofar and know that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!

Our August Electric bill (August is our hottest Month in Texas) has hit our account, and we are currently “pending” in the negative. We still need to raise at least $450 by the end of today (9/22/25) to clear that bill and avoid a chain reaction of returned items and fees. In other words, if you can possibly donate today, we definitely need your help.!

We need your help to continue the ongoing work, bringing the message of Messiah to the Jewish people, and bringing the message of Torah to the world. We need your help with the ongoing work of Scripture Restoration, as restore the original Hebrew of the “New Testament” books, a project which will bless all mankind, especially the Jewish people of Israel.

In these uncertain times, we need your support more than ever. The time is short, and there is much work to be done. As you might imagine, donations are low. If you can, please donate. This is no time to pull back from the great work in front of us!

As you know we have been digging ourselves out of a budget shortfall.  As I have said to you many times, I look on this work as a co-operative one with me, and all of you combining our resources together in order to get the job done of helping to teach this great truth to all in the world who will listen. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your continued support, you are the ones who make it all possible by your contributions and your prayers for our work. I truly appreciate your help in every way.

If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work.

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

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We have all heard the phrase “my boss is a Jewish Carpenter”. The image of “Jesus” as a carpenter has been instilled in our culture. Everyone knows Yeshua was a carpenter… but it turns out that “everyone” is wrong.

The idea that Yeshua was a carpenter comes from two passages in the Gospels:

Is not this the carpenter‘s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? (Matthew 13:55 KJV)

And the Synoptic parallel in Mark:

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. (Mark 6:3 KJV)

However if we look at the DuTillet/Munster Hebrew text of Matthew 13:55 we read: הלא זה בן נפחא “Is this not the son of the smith?” and similarly in the Shem Tob Hebrew text of Matthew 13:55 אין זה בן הנפח “Is this not the son of the smith?”

The Hebrew noun here נפח or נפחא comes from the Hebrew verb root נפח meaning “to blow” and in this noun, referring to one who blows, using a bellows. The Hebrew word refers to a metal smith in general, one who smelts metals and makes things from them and encompasses a blacksmith, a silversmith a goldsmith etc.

This Hebrew word is attested at least as early as the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Thanksgiving Hymns “You have brought him to the crucible like gold to be worked by the fire, and as silver, which is refined in the smelter of the smiths to be refined seven times.” (1QH 13, 16)

The idea that Yeshua was a blacksmith brings whole new dimensions to his person and his sayings.

To begin with, the image of Yeshua as a weak, mild mannered looking individual are all wrong. Yeshua the blacksmith would have been a strong powerful man with big biceps, who could sling a blacksmith’s hammer and pound metal against an anvil.

Moreover, when Yeshua said “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34) these words have a stronger meaning coming from a blacksmith, who could literally make swords! And when Yeshua advocates sword ownership saying “and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one” (Luke 22:36) it has a whole new dimension, knowing he was a blacksmith!

So where did the idea that Yeshua was a Carpenter arise? The Aramaic (Old Syriac and Peshitta) versions translate this Hebrew word נפחא (smith) with the the Aramaic word נגרא which Jastrow defines as “carpenter, turner; in gen. artisan” (A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi and the Midrashic Literature, Marcus Jastrow 876a). This word usually means “carpenter” but generally can refer to any kind of “artisan”. The Greek translator renders with τέκτονος which can also refer to a carpenter or generally to an artisan.

The original Hebrew of Matthew, as preserved in both the DuTillet/Munster and Shem Tob Hebrew versions, reveals that Yeshua was a blacksmith, and the Aramaic and Greek translations generalized this with a word meaning “artisan” but most commonly referring to a “carpenter” and thus the deep set, yet incorrect, tradition that Yeshua was a carpenter was born.

We need your support today! Rent was due yesterday, and we still need to raise at least $250 by the end of the day today!

I 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.

In these uncertain times, we need your support more than ever. The time is short, and there is much work to be done. This is no time to pull back from the great work in front of us!

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

Click HERE to donate

There is an amazing and important festival on the Biblical calendar which has been lost and has not been observed for centuries. The festival was enacted in the 3rd Book of the Maccabees, but since this book was removed from the canon (along with the rest of the apocrypha), this festival was effectively removed with it. As the restoration of truth continues, one of the things that we need to do is restore this lost, biblical festival to our observance.

This year is the tenth anniversary of the modern restoration of observance of the Feast of Chag Yeshua!

What is the background of this festival? After the Battle of Raphia in 217 B.C.E. Ptolemy IV sought to enter the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem, but was miraculously repulsed (3Macc. 1:1-2:24). Upon returning from Egypt he seeks to punish the Jews there for his humiliation. He lowers their political status and seeks to impose paganism on them (3Macc. 2:25-33) and tortures and kills those that refuse to renounce Judaism (3Macc. 3:1-5:51) An elder priest named Eleazar prays for the deliverance of his people (3Macc. 6:1-25), YHWH intervenes bringing about the repentance of the king and the deliverance of the Jews (6:16-7:23) The Jews declared an annual festival called “The Feast of Deliverance” (Chag Yeshua) as an annual celebration of the salvation of the Jews in Egypt at this time. The festival enacted from the 8th to the 14th of the Egyptian month of Epeiph. The Egyptian calendar was a Solar Calendar and these days correspond to 19 August 217 BCE on the Julian Calendar and this was 12th Elul 3544 on the Hebrew calendar. This festival should be observed on the 12th of Elul each year.

And there is another element in this festival for us as believers in Messiah. The Hebrew word for “deliverance” is YESHUA so we have here “The Feast of Yeshua”. The deliverance of the Jews from the hand of Ptolemy IV points us forward to the deliverance of Israel by the Messiah Yeshua. This feast gives us another important theme, Messiah and the deliverance of Israel.

What do we do on Chag Yeshua? The text of 3 Maccabees tells us that the day was celebrated with rejoicing and they “were crowned with all kinds of fragrant flowers.” The text also tells us that they:

1. A celebratory meal called “The Banquet of Deliverance” or “The Banquet of Yeshua”. This should not be confused with the Passover Sader and would be more akin to a “Thanksgiving Dinner”, or this time of year, a barbeque. (3Macc. 6:31)
2. Traditional songs (“Songs of their fathers”) and praising Yah as “savior”. Particularly appropriate are songs about “Salvation” or which speak of Yah’s defense as our shield. (3Macc. 6:32)
3. Traditional Hebraic Dance (2Macc. 6:35)
4. Obviously the festival should involve recounting the story of 3 Maccabees.

In 2020 Chag Yeshua (The Feast of Deliverance) will run seven days beginning Sunset Aug. 31st, 2020 .I want to encourage you to join Nazarenes around the world this summer as we observe this festival.

We are down to our last $61 and must raise at least $500 by the end of the day today!

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.

The work continues in the restoration of the ancient sect of Nazarene Judaism thru the NazareneSpace social network, Nazarenejudaism.com and this blog! Plus we have absorbed the old Messianic Center Social Network URL!

We are still posting key Hebrew and Aramaic documents in Hebrew/Aramaic and English interlinear, keyed to Strong’s word numbers at our Scripture Nexus website!

Most importantly, thru the Scripture Restoration Project we are doing the very important work of restoring the original Scriptures from ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, and posting the results as we go. After starting with Mark 1:1-6 and Matthew 3:4 we moved to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-8) and Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-49) so that we could get some of Yeshua’s key teachings covered early in the project. We have already completed the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12 and Luke 6:20-26) and have posted them both in pointed Hebrew and in English at our new project website.

This project will play a very important part in prophecy, as we read in the Book of Enoch:

But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or diminish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully –all that I first testified concerning them. Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom. And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefore all the paths of uprightness be recompensed.’
(1Enoch 104:10-13)

And the words of Isaiah: “the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” (Isaiah 29:18)

When we complete the restoration of the originals of the books of the so-called “New Testament” (better called the Ketuvim Netzarim, Writings of the Nazarenes) we intend to publish the volume in Israel, and to make it a key part of the restoration of Nazarene Judaism among the Jewish people in the Land.

Finally we have launched the new Hebraic Stoicism Institute website to reach out to the substantial Stoic Community with the message of 4th Maccabees and the Torah commentary of Philo of Alexandria. The launch has gotten a lot of “likes” and lively discussion on Stoicism Facebook Groups.

Friends, we count on your support to keep all of these projects funded. Our account is badly depleted, and donations have been low. Help keep this vision alive!

Shalom Chaverim,

The work continues in the restoration of the ancient sect of Nazarene Judaism thru the NazareneSpace social network, Nazarenejudaism.com and this blog! Plus we have absorbed the old Messianic Center Social Network URL!

We are still posting key Hebrew and Aramaic documents in Hebrew/Aramaic and English interlinear, keyed to Strong’s word numbers at our Scripture Nexus website!

Most importantly, thru the Scripture Restoration Project we are doing the very important work of restoring the original Scriptures from ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, and posting the results as we go. After starting with Mark 1:1-6 and Matthew 3:4 we moved to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-8) and Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-49) so that we could get some of Yeshua’s key teachings covered early in the project. We have already completed the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12 and Luke 6:20-26) and have posted them both in pointed Hebrew and in English at our new project website.

This project will play a very important part in prophecy, as we read in the Book of Enoch:

But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or diminish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully –all that I first testified concerning them. Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom. And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefore all the paths of uprightness be recompensed.’
(1Enoch 104:10-13)

And the words of Isaiah: “the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” (Isaiah 29:18)

When we complete the restoration of the originals of the books of the so-called “New Testament” (better called the Ketuvim Netzarim, Writings of the Nazarenes) we intend to publish the volume in Israel, and to make it a key part of the restoration of Nazarene Judaism among the Jewish people in the Land.

Finally we have launched the new Hebraic Stoicism Institute website to reach out to the substantial Stoic Community with the message of 4th Maccabees and the Torah commentary of Philo of Alexandria. The launch has gotten a lot of “likes” and lively discussion on Stoicism Facebook Groups.

Friends, we count on your support to keep all of these projects funded. Our account is badly depleted, and donations have been low. Help keep this vision alive!

We are down to our last $61 and must raise at least $500 in the next 24 hours!

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.

Shalom Chaverim,

The Scripture Restoration Project now has a website in construction and will begin publishing my restoration of the original Hebrew of the books of the so-called “New Testament” soon. This is a very important work in prophetic fulfillment of the Scriptures:

But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or diminish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully –all that I first testified concerning them. Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom. And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefore all the paths of uprightness be recompensed.’
(1Enoch 104:10-13)

“the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” (Isaiah 29:18)

I have completed work on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 6:20-26) and am continuing work on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-49) and hitting parallels with Mark (Mark 9:49-50 with Matthew 5:13 for example) as I go along.

We will be publishing the Restored text at frequent intervals as I continue the work. And we continue to publish raw manuscript texts at our Scripture Nexus website.

Friends, we count on your support to keep these projects funded. Our account is badly depleted, and donations have been low. Help keep this vision alive!

This work will take 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.

I 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.

Shalom Chaverim,

As I continue work on the Scripture Restoration Project I often find myself caught up for hours dealing with various intricacies of the Scripture texts. There are many times when I am filled with exhilaration with some new textual discovery and the excitement that comes with wanting to share it with you. I am especially grateful for those of you who are making this work possible.

Today I want to share with you a couple of those discoveries I have made as I have completed restoration of the original Hebrew of the “beatitudes” ( Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 6:20-26)

While I was working on this text, I found some very interesting things when I compared Matthew 5:11 and Luke 6:22.

In the KJV these read:

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. (Matthew 5:11 KJV)

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. (Luke 6:22 KJV)

The first thing I noticed is that the version in the KJV (and Greek) Matthew, has two verbs that men do to the “blessed” in this saying, while Luke has three verbs. But something very exciting happened when I looked at Matthew in the Aramaic.

To begin with (and I will cover this in more detail later) the Hebrew and Aramaic is better translated “happy” rather than “blessed”.

In the Aramaic there was a textual variant between our two surviving copies of the Old Syriac version. The Old Syriac Sinaitic manuscript reads “Happy are you when men hate (סנין) you and persecute (רדפין) you…” while the Old Syriac Curetonian manuscript reads “Happy are you when men persecute (רדפין) you and reproach (מחסדין) you…”

What was also exciting was to compare these readings to Aramaic Luke (Old Syriac and Peshitta) where the reading is “Blessed are you when men hate (סנין) you and separate from (מפרישין) you and reproach (מחסדין) you…”

If we lay these out together we see a close correspondence:

Next I compared the Hebrew Dutillet/Munster text with Old Syriac Matthew and something amazing happened. DuTillet/Munster reads “Happy are you when men despise (קלל) you and persecute (רדף) you…” while Shem Tob has “Happy are you when men persecute (רדף) you and reproach (גדף) you…”

If we compare with the Old Syriac Aramaic Matthew we see a pattern:

Here we see clearly two scribal traditions within Hebrew Matthew for this verse, with the DuTillet/Munster text being allied with the Siniatic Aramaic and with the Shem Tob text being allied with the Curetonian Aramaic.

We can see that like Luke, the original Hebrew of Matthew, had three verbs here, but with a different verb in the middle position than that in Luke.

We also see that each scribal tradition in Matthew omits one of the three words. In Old Syraic (S) and DuTillet/Munster the verb after “persecute” is omitted, and in Old Syriac (C) and Shem Tob the verb before “persecute” is omitted.

Once again the DuTillet/Munster and Shem Tob Hebrew versions of Matthew each preserve part of the original, and with some detective work, we can restore the original (which is what this project is all about)

Another interesting passage in this verse of Luke (6:22) is the phrase “cast out your name as evil” (KJV) The Old Syriac says שמא דביש which is clos to the original Hebrew which certainly followed the idiomatic expression we see in Deut. 22:19 “evil name” (שם רע) meaning a bad reputation.

One of the important things about the original Hebrew of the Beatitudes is that, where the KJV reads “Blessed” the Hebrew has “happy” (אשרי). This gives the beatitudes a much deeper meaning.

When the beatitudes say “happy are they which are persecuted” and “happy are you… when men… persecute you” it is teaching us that our happiness should not depend on our external circumstances. We can be happy even when persecuted, if our happiness is based only on what is internal. We cannot control what is external. The only thing we can control is what is internal, what we think and therefore how we choose to feel.

The work is meticulous but rewarding.

But this project needs your help. I cannot do this alone. Our need is great. The rent was due yesterday. This work will take hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is chronically ill (her medications have cost us almost $300 this week, after insurance), 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.

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

-James Scott Trimm

Shalom Chaverim,

As many of you should know, work has now begun on the Scripture Restoration Project. Words cannot express the mixture of sober responsibility and enthusiastic exhilaration that I feel as I work on this project. It is impossible to describe what it feels like to delve deeply into the original text of the Scriptures, for hours at a time, surrounded by facsimiles of ancient manuscripts, critical editions, and reference books. My desk is literally piled with stacks of source texts. As I play Motzart on my headphones and work, I am caught up in the intricacies of the various manuscripts and texts before me, I lose myself in the literal Word of YHWH and the passage of time ceases to have meaning.

As I begin this project, I started with a test run to restore the original Hebrew of Mark, using the Greek Text types, the Old Syriac and Peshitta Aramaic and the synoptic parallels to Matthew to use Hebrew Matthew as a guide to restore Hebrew Mark. When I got to Mark 1:6 = Matthew 3:4 discovered something very important about Hebrew Matthew. The DuTillet/Munster and Shem Tob Hebrew versions of Matthew each preserve parts of the original Hebrew Matthew, and my work will involve weaving these two traditions together using the relationships between the Greek Text types, and the ancient Aramaic witnesses as a guide. (See my last blog for a detailed understanding of Mark 1:6 = Matthew 3:4).

I will be using synoptic parallels to restore Matthew, Mark and Luke (and the Gospel according to the Hebrews) concurrently, and I am jumping ahead temporarily,to restore the words of Yeshua in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-8) and the parallel “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke 6:20-49).

The work is meticulous but rewarding.

But this project needs your help. I cannot do this alone. Our need is great. The rent was due yesterday. This work will take hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is chronically ill (her medications have cost us almost $300 this week, after insurance), 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.

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

Yesterday I announced the Scripture Restoration Project. If you have not read that announcement, you should read it by clicking here.

Today I want to share with you, an example of the process involved in this Scripture Restoration Project. As an example, we will look at the first phrase in Matthew 3:4 = Mark 1:6.

But first, let me give a very brief overview of our sources for this text.

First of all we have the Greek texts of Matthew and Mark. The various Greek manuscripts have many variant readings which fall into three different text types: Western, Alexandrian and Byzantine. In my book The Hebrew and Aramaic Origin of the New Testament, I lay out the evidence that the Western type is the most primitive and Semitic type of text, most closely related to the Old Syriac (discussed below). The Alexandrian type is a revision towards a much smoother Greek, with fewer Semitisms, and much more pleasing to the Greek ear. The Byzantine is a later text type that attempts to resolve the variants from the two. (That is a super-brief overview).

We also have, for this particular passage, a Greek translations of the same text as it appeared in the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which is a lost apocryphal Jewish Gospel used by the ancient Nazarenes and Ebionites, that survives today only in about fifty quotations preserved in quotations by so-called “Church Fathers” and other sources into the middle ages.

Next we have Aramaic sources for this text. We have Matthew 3:4 and Mark 1:6 as they have been preserved in the Aramaic Peshitta Text, and we have Matthew 3:4 as it has been preserved in the Aramaic Old Syriac text, however the Old Syriac Aramaic of Mark 1:6 has not survived. These Aramaic sources reach back to at least the fourth century. In my book The Hebrew and Aramaic Origin of the New Testament, I lay out the evidence for their relationship to each other, as well as the text types mentioned above. The Old Syriac is the more primitive Aramaic version, being most closely allied with the Western type text and retaining some Jewish Aramaic that is actually intolerable in Syriac Aramaic. We have only two incomplete manuscripts of the Old Syriac comprising, between the two of them, about 95% of the four Gospels. The Aramaic Peshitta is a standardized Aramaic version that appears to have been revised to more closely agree with the Greek Byzantine type texts and to be more pleasing to the Syriac ear (smoothing out Judaicisms in the Old Syriac).

Next we have three Hebrew sources. First there is the Hebrew DuTillet manuscript of Matthew which was confiscated from Jews in the 1500’s. Second, there is the Munster Hebrew version of Matthew which Sebastian Munster obtained from the Jews in the 1500’s and published in 1537. Finally there is the Shem Tobe Hebrew version of Matthew which was copied by Shem Tov Ben Shaprut into his polemic work Evan Bohan in 1385. In my book The Hebrew and Aramaic Origin of the New Testament, I lay out the relationships between these three versions, as well as their relationship to the Aramaic sources above and to the three Greek Text types.

Now that I have very briefly introduced the sources for this passage (sources for other passages may vary, with either fewer or additional exemplars) let us examine my process of restoration:

First let us look at our sources:

Greek::

Mt: Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Ἰωάνης εἶχεν τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου

English: “Now Yochanon had a garment (his) of hair of camel”

Mk: καὶ ἦν ὁ Ἰωάνης ἐνδεδυμένος τρίχας καμήλου

English: “And Yochanon was clothed in the hair of camel”

GH: και ειχεν ο Ιωαννης ἔνδυμα ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου

(Quoted by Epiphanius)

English: “And had Yochanan a garment of hair of camel”

Now the Aramaic sources:

Old Syriac Matthew: הו דין יוחנן לביש הוא לבושא דסערא דגמלא

English: Now (he) Yochanan was clothed with a garment of hair of camel”

Old Syriac Mark: (Lost)

Peshitta Matthew: הו דין יוחנן איתוהי הוא לבושא דסערא דגמלא

English: Now (he) Yochanan was clothed with a garment of hair of camel”

Peshitta Mark: הו דין יוחנן לביש הוא לבושא דסערא דגמלא

English: Now (he) Yochanan, his clothes were a garment of hair of camel”

And Hebrew Sources:

DuTillet/Munster: והיה לבושו של יוהנן משערות גמלים

English: “And Yochanan had garments (his) was from hairs of camels”

Shem Tob: והנה יוחנן היה לבוש מצמר הגמלים

English: “And behold, Yochanan was clothed from hair of camels”

OK so now some analysis. We have three basic readings here.

Some texts say that Yochahan had a “garment” (noun): (DuTillet/Munster Matthew, Peshitta Matthew, Greek Matthew and Greek Gospel according to the Hebrews)

Others say that Yochanan was “clothed” (verb): Shem Tob, Greek Mark)

And a third reading group says that Yochanan was “clothed” (verb) with a “garment” (noun) (Old Syriac Matthew, Peshitta Mark)

We can also see that the words “garment” and “clothed” are from the same Semitic root and have a similar or identical appearance. So we must ask ourselves, how did this variant arise? There are 3 possibilities:

1. The original reading used only the verb “clothed” and a variant occurred thru scribal error, misreading this as the noun “garment”. Then a later scribe conflated the two readings to include both words.
2. The original reading used only the noun “garment” and a variant occurred thru scribal error, misreading this as the verb “clothed” and a later scribe conflated the two readings to include both words.
3. The original had both words and thru haplograophy, one was dropped. This either occurred twice, resulting in each reading, or a scribal error resulted in a miscopying of one word for the other after the haplography occurred.

One rule I have learned to use, is to look to our Hebrew manucscripts (which are late) for vocabulary, while looking to our older Aramaic sources for form.

What is especially interesting is that Shem Tob Hebrew Matthew agrees with canonical Mark against canonical Matthew in this phrase.

Something else that is especially interesting in that in our oldest, most primitive Semitic text, the Old Syriac, Old Syriac Matthew agrees word for word with the Peshitta reading of Mark. The Old Syriac of Mark is lost, but this makes it very compelling to extrapolate that the Old Syriac Mark followed in this reading (remember the Peshitta is a revision of the Old Syriac).

Moreover, if we compare this Aramaic reading to the Peshitta Aramaic reading of Matthew, we see that the text is identical except for one word replacing the verb “clothed” with a verb of being, thus giving the sense of “having” a “garment” rather than “being clothed” with a garment, in agreement with Greek Matthew.

From all of this information, I conclude that the original form of this phrase is preserved in Old Syriac Matthew and Peshitta Mark (which are identical and contain both words).

Moreover, this gives us a very Semitic reading using a Hebraism known as the cognate accusative in which a noun drawn from the same root as its verb is used to strengthen the impact of the verb action. Some examples in the Tanak:

cried with a great and exceedingly loud cry (Gen. 27:34)

we have dreamed a dream (Gen. 40:8)

vowed a vow (Judges 11:30)

thundered with a great thunder (1Sam. 7:10)

Our two Hebrew readings, have each preserved part of the original wording (DuTillet/Munster preserving the noun and Shem Tob preserving the verb), and if we graft that wording onto the template of the original form of the phrase as found in Old Syriac Matthew and Peshitta Mark, we have the original Hebrew restored to us! The original read:

והוא יוחנן לבוש היה לבושו משערות גמלים

“And he Yochanan was clothed with a garment (his) from hairs of camels”

So this shows you the process involved in recovering the original Hebrew of just one phrase within a verse of text. Neither of our two Hebrew texts preserved the original reading, but each preserved parts of it, while the Aramaic sources preserved a template in which to graft the Hebrew words!

This is very exciting work!

I 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.

Our need is great. Just today I picked up a prescription for my wife that was over $200! and Yesterday I picked up one that was nearly $100! Meanwhile the rent is due in two days. This work will take hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is chronically 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.

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

Back in April I wrote to you about the importance of the Restoration of the Word of YHWH. At that time I cited a prophecy from the Book of Enoch, which says of the last days:

But when they write down truthfully all my words in their languages, and do not change or diminish ought from my words but write them all down truthfully –all that I first testified concerning them. Then, I know another mystery, that books will be given to the righteous and the wise to become a cause of joy and uprightness and much wisdom. And to them shall the books be given, and they shall believe in them and rejoice over them, and then shall all the righteous who have learnt therefore all the paths of uprightness be recompensed.’
(1Enoch 104:10-13)

At that time I said: Enoch was speaking of this generation. I have been given several projects that will put more of the Word of YHWH into the hands of the people, with online interlinear texts etc. There is much work to be done, and less time than ever in which to get it done.

The time is near at hand in which “the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.” (Isaiah 29:18)

Recently we started the Scripture Nexus website, to begin posting some of the important Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts online in interlinear English translation, keyed to Strong’s word numbers. This is to provide basic research tools to the layman student of the Scriptures.

As I said in April “I have been given several projects that will put more of the Word of YHWH into the hands of the people”. It is for this reason that I am announcing the Scripture Restoration Project (SRP)

The purpose of the Scripture Restoration Project is the prophetic fulfillment of 1Enoch 104:10-13 and Isaiah 29:18!

The Scripture Restoration Project is a project to literally restore much of what has been lost in our Scriptures. The books of the so-called New Testament were written in Hebrew and Aramaic and were only later translated into Greek, Latin and other European languages.

Back in 2005 (revised in 2008) I wrote a book called The Hebrew and Aramaic Origin of the New Testament, in which I documented the relationships between the various Hebrew and Aramaic Source texts which have come down to us as well as that of the various Greek text types, and how they relate to the original Hebrew and Aramaic. Today we have the original text in scattered bits and pieces in various sources. But we do have enough information, from these various sources, to reconstruct the original text. I have spent my entire adult life studying these sources and learning their interrelationships. Now I have been led, or more correctly, directed, to restore the original Hebrew texts!

This will take months, even years, but we will publish the work as we go, so you will not have to wait months and years to reap the rewards of this work!

This work will take 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.

I want to share with you all a dream I had in the 1980’s not long after I had become a believer in Messiah (I was around 18 years old). I recorded it in a journal I was keeping at the time:

In my dream I was rebuilding the ruins of an ancient stone alter.
As I finished rebuilding this alter, it shined with a great light so bright that I
could not look directly at it, brighter than the sun. I turned around
and saw several shafts of blue light shining down out of heaven. It was
shear beauty like I had never seen. Behind me was the Messianic
Synagogue I was attending at the time. I ran inside to tell all of my
friends in the synagogue about what I had seen, but most of them seemed
disinterested, and only a few were willing to come outside and see what I
had seen.

I 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.

Enoch was Wrapped in a Tallit
By
James Scott Trimm

In the Book of Enoch we read that Chanoch (Enoch) was hidden away from men:

1 Before these things Chanoch was hidden, and no one of the children of men knew where he was hidden, and where he abode, and what had become of him.  
2 And his activities had to do with the Watchers, and his days were with the set-apart-ones.
(1En. 12:1-2)

The Book of Jasher also has an account of Chanoch (Enoch)  being hidden away from men.  In the Book of Jasher we read:

2 And the soul of Chanoch was wrapped up in the instruction of YHWH, in knowledge and in understanding; and he knew the ways of YHWH, and he wisely retired from the sons of men, and secreted himself from them for many days.
3 And it was at the end of many days and years, while he was serving before YHWH, and praying before YHWH in [his] house and in [his] chamber, that an angel of YHWH called to him from Heaven saying: Chanoch, Chanoch, and he said, Here am I.
4 And he said, Rise, go forth from your house and from your hiding place, and rule over all the sons of men, in order that you may teach them the way in which they should go and the work which they must do to go in the ways of YHWH.
5 And Chanoch rose up according to the word of YHWH, and went forth from his house, from his place and from the chamber in which he was concealed; and he went to the sons of men and taught them the ways of YHWH, and at that time assembled the sons of men and acquainted them with the instruction of the YHWH.
(Jasher 3:2-5)

The Hebrew word for “chamber” here is the same word used in DuTillet Hebrew Matthew 6:6

But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber, and shut the door, and pray to your Father, which is in secret: and your Father, which sees in secret, will recompense you publicly.
(Matthew 6:6 DuTillet)

The KJV translates “closet”.  This actually refers to the private compartment created when a Jew prays while creating an enclosure over his head with his tallit.  The Hebrew word for “chamber” both in The Book of Jasher and the DuTillet Hebrew text of Matthew is KHEDER (Strong’s 2315) from the verb root KHADAR (Strong’s 2314) “to surround or enclose”.

The imagery here is that of the chamber created when one is wrapped in a tallit in deep prayer and meditation.  Enoch was hidden away, literally wrapped up in his the KHEDER (chamber) formed by his tallit “wrapped up in the instruction of YHWH, in knowledge and in understanding” (Jasher 3:2) and while in this deep prayer and meditation, he was in the spirit, and “his activities had to do with the Watchers, and his days were with the set-apart-ones.” (1Enoch 12:2).

We must raise at least $300 by the end of the day tomorrow (Monday)!

Donations have been low and bills are due which will not clear without your help!

In these uncertain times, we need your support more than ever. The time is short, and there is much work to be done. As you might imagine, donations are low. If you can, please donate. This is no time to pull back from the great work in front of us!

Help us to continue to do important work, like posting important Hebrew and Aramaic texts at Scripture Nexus

As you know we have been digging ourselves out of a budget shortfall.  As I have said to you many times, I look on this work as a co-operative one with me, and all of you combining our resources together in order to get the job done of helping to teach this great truth to all in the world who will listen. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your continued support, you are the ones who make it all possible by your contributions and your prayers for our work. I truly appreciate your help in every way.

If you can make a one time donation of $500 or $1,000 dollars to support this work.

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

Or click HERE to donate

And don’t forget to join the conversations at the NazareneSpace Social Network