What is “Work” on Shabbat?


What is “Work” on Shabbat?
By
James Scott Trimm

This week’s Torah Parsha (Ki Tisa) gives us an important insight as to what constitutes “work” on shabbat.

We are told in the Torah that no “work” is to be done on the Sabbath, but I am often asked “What constitutes work?”

The word the Torah uses In regards to the prohibitions of Sabbath which is translated into English as “work” is the Hebrew word m’lawkhaw meaning “all and any kind of creative ‘generative’ endeavor, changes to the environment or any object.” (Lev. 23:3; Ex. 34:21; Ex. 16:21-30).

How do we define work?

ELOHIM rested from creative activity on Shabbat (Gen. 2:1-3). In Is. 58:13-14 “work” on the Sabbath seems to mean “doing your will” or “doing your own ways” or “wording words.” Thus resting from “work” on the Shabbat means to rest from creative activities and to rest from inflicting our own will on the universe.

The Torah gives us a very good clue as to how to understand the word “work” in this context.

The word m’lawkhaw (work) appears in Ex. 31:3 referring to the work of the artisans in building the tabernacle. This section of Torah is immediately followed by a reminder to rest from “work” on the Shabbat (Ex. 31:12-17). It seems then that m’lawkhaw in Ex. 31:12-17 must include the meaning of m’lawkhaw in Ex. 31:3. Thus the activities involved in making the Tabernacle are among those not normally permitted on Shabbat.

The Mishnah breaks the types of tasks performed in the building of the Tabernacle and the crafting of its artifacts into thirty nine categories of “work” as follows:

THE PRIMARY LABOURS ARE FORTY LESS ONE, [VIZ.:] SOWING, PLOUGHING, REAPING, BINDING SHEAVES, THRESHING, WINNOWING, SELECTING, GRINDING, SIFTING, KNEADING, BAKING, SHEARING WOOL, BLEACHING, HACKLING, DYEING, SPINNING, STRETCHING THE THREADS, THE MAKING OF TWO MESHES, WEAVING TWO THREADS, DIVIDING TWO THREADS, TYING [KNOTTING] AND UNTYING, SEWING TWO STITCHES, TEARING IN ORDER TO SEW TWO STITCHES, CAPTURING A DEER, SLAUGHTERING, OR FLAYING, OR SALTING IT, CURING ITS HIDE, SCRAPING IT [OF ITS HAIR], CUTTING IT UP, WRITING TWO LETTERS, ERASING IN ORDER TO WRITE TWO LETTERS [OVER THE ERASURE], BUILDING, PULLING DOWN, EXTINGUISHING, KINDLING, STRIKING WITH A HAMMER, [AND] CARRYING OUT FROM ONE DOMAIN TO ANOTHER: THESE ARE THE FORTY PRIMARY LABOURS LESS ONE.
(m.Shabbat 7:2)

Three of these are specifically mentioned elsewhere in Scripture:

1. Preparation and cooking of food.
(Lev. 23:3; Ex. 34:21; Ex. 16:21-30)

2. Kindling a fire.
(Ex. 35:3)

3. Carrying anything out of a “domain”.
(Jer. 17:21-22)

The Talmud examines these thirty nine categories, further breaking them down some of them into more detailed sub-categories (b.Shabbat 73a-75b).

As many of you know, we were victims of the Texas Snow-pocalypse just a few days ago. The full story of how we survived the Texas Snow-pocalypose is in a blog I wrote here..

We took a big financial hit and are still recovering. We had to (ironically) replace a lot of groceries, our power bill is past due and with rent due in just three days!

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.

Donations can also be made out to “Nazarene Judaism” and sent to:

Yeshua and the Temple Tax

Yeshua and the Temple Tax
By
James Scott Trimm

This coming week’s Torah Parsha is Ki Tisa, which includes the section of Torah which discusses the Temple Tax.

We read in the Goodnews according to Matthew:

24 And when they had come into K’far Nachum, they that received the drachma came near to Kefa, and said to him, Does your rabbi pay the drachma?
25 And he said, Certainly. And as he came to the house, Yeshua prevented him, saying: How seems it to you, Shim’on? The kings of the earth: of whom do they receive tribute and custom? Of their own children, or of strangers?
26 And he said, Of strangers. Then Yeshua said to him: If so, the children are free.
27 But in order that we may not provoke them, go you to the sea, and cast the baited net, and take the fish that first comes up. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a litra: that take, and give to them for Me and you.
(Matthew 17:24-27 HRV)

This passage deals with the collection of the Temple Tax as prescribed in the Torah:

11 And YHWH spoke unto Moshe, saying:
12 When you take the sum of the children of Yisra’el, according to their number, then shall they give every man, a ransom for his soul unto YHWH, when you number them: that there be no plague among them when you number them.
13 This they shall give, every one that passes among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: the shekel is twenty gerahs; half a shekel for an offering to YHWH.
14 Every one that passes among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of YHWH.
15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel, when they give the offering of YHWH–to make atonement for your souls.
16 And you shall take the atonement money from the children of Yisra’el, and shall appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Yisra’el before YHWH, to make atonement for your souls.
(Ex. 30:11-16 HRV)

The Pharisees and the Essenes had a dispute over the meaning of these verses.  The Pharisees understood these verses as prescribing an annual Temple Tax which was collected from everyone of twenty years of age or more, during the month of Adar:

On the first day of Adar they make public announcement concerning [payment of] sheqel dues… On the twenty-fifth [of Adar] they set up money changers’ tables in the provinces.  On the twenty-fifth [of Adar] they set them up in the Temple.  Once they were set up in the Temple, they began to exact pledges [from those who had not paid the tax in specie]….
(m.Shek. 1:1, 3)

Rashi writes:

When you take: Heb. כִּי תִשָׂא. [This is] an expression of taking, as the Targum [Onkelos] renders. [I.e.,] when you wish to take the sum [total] of their numbers to know how many they are, do not count them by the head, but each one shall give a half-shekel, and you shall count the shekels. [Thereby] you will know their number.

who goes through the counting: Heb. הָעֹבֵר עַל-הַפְקֻדִים. It is customary for those who count to pass the ones who have been counted one following another, and so [too the word יַעִבֹר in] “each one that passes under the rod” (lev. 27:32), and so [the word תַּעִבֹרְנָה in] “flocks will again pass under the hands of one who counts them” (Jer. 33:13).

However the Qumran community had a different Halachah. They taught:

…concerning the Ransom: the money of the valuation
which a man gives as ransom for his life shall be half
a shekel in accordance with the shekel of the sanctuary.
He shall give it only once in his life.
(4Q159 Frag 1; Col. 2; lines 6-7)

The key phrases here are “ransom for his soul unto YHWH” and “to make atonement for your souls”.  The word for “soul” in Hebrew is NEFESH meaning “soul, life or self”.  The Essenes taught that once a man ransomed his NEFESH (life), his entire life was ransomed.

When Kefa (who had come from an Essne background) was asked “Does your rabbi pay the drachma?”? He was being asked about this particular halachic issue.  Kefa responds “yes” but Yeshua later instructs him saying that neither himself, nor Kefa nor apparently any of his followers owe the Temple tax because they are all “children of the King” already having redeemed their NEFESH.

Now if Yeshua held to this Essene Halachah then He would not believe that he or his followers owed the tax, if they had already paid it at least once in their lifetime. This would explain why Kefa said that Yeshua pays the tax, while Yeshua claims that he and his followers don’t owe the tax.

Yeshua then says:

But in order that we may not provoke them, go you to the sea, and cast the baited net, and take the fish that first comes up. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a litra: that take, and give to them for Me and you.
(Matt. 17:27 HRV)

This is very similar to a narrative found in the Talmud:

Joseph-who-honours-the-Sabbaths had in his victory a certain  gentile who owned much property. Soothsayers told him,  ‘Joseph-who-honours-the-Sabbaths will consume all your property. [So] he went, sold all his property, and bought a precious stone with the proceeds, which he set in his turban. As he was crossing a bridge the wind blew it off and cast it into the water, [and] a fish swallowed it. [Subsequently] it [the fish] was hauled up and brought [to market] on the Sabbath eve towards sunset. ‘Who will buy now?’ cried they. ‘Go and take them to Joseph-who-honours-the-Sabbaths,’ they were told, ‘as he is accustomed to buy.’ So they took it to him. He bought it, opened it, found the jewel therein, and sold it for thirteen  roomfuls of gold denarii. A certain old man met him [and] said,  ‘He who lends to the Sabbath, the Sabbath repays him.’
(b.Shabbat 119a)

It would appear that the fish had swallowed a litra which Kefa then found inside.  Yeshua foreknew that YHWH had provided the Temple Tax for them in this manner.

So we learn two lessons from this account.  We learn that the Temple Tax is due only once in a person’s lifetime, and we also learn that it is permissible to keep a stricter halacha in order to maintain unity with the larger Jewish community.

Our rent is due in just five days (9/1/24) and we do not have it!

Update: Due to a seizure, my wife’s surgery has been postponed until September 10th. Our cost will be about $350. If any of you can donate towards that it would be appreciated.

We need your help today!

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 by Zelle or Go Fund Me.

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The Full Armor of Elohim

The Full Armor of Elohim
By
James Scott Trimm

In the Hebrew text of 1stMaccabees there are six additional verses embedded in the midst of 1Maccabees 7:33 (more correctly additional material which naturally breaks down into six verses) including three verses which parallel 2Maccabees 15:1-3. Especially interesting is the 6th of these verses which speaks of the full armor in referring to the Jews in Nicanor occupied Jerusalem, says:

And they put on the full armor,
and not chain mail and lances
but rather prayers and supplications.
(1Macc. 7:33a6 HRV)

We live in a Hellenistic (Greek based) culture. This culture has unfortunately colored our understandings of the Scriptures, often in ways we do not realize. The Hellenistic Roman culture has had a major impact on our own. The commentaries on the Scriptures that we read are all to often unduly influenced by Hellenistic, Roman cultural views. Many books even portray Paul as a Hellenist (he was, in fact an anti-Hellenist). Such is the case with the commentaries on the “Full armor of Elohim” (Eph. 6). Open up many of the main line commentaries and they will tell you how Paul wrote Ephesians in prison and was enormously impressed with the armor of the Roman soldiers. The commentaries will then discuss each element of the armor in terms of Roman armor and seek to draw allegorical implications from the nuances of Roman armor. There is just one problem with this. Paul is not talking about Roman armor at all, he is talking about ancient Hebrew armor! In fact, Paul does not even come up with the idea of the full armor of Elohim on his own, he draws it from the Apocryphal books of Wisdom of Solomon and 4th Maccabees, and to a lesser extent the canonical Book of Isaiah.

Paul mentions the full armor in three places.


The Armor of Light

In Romans 13:12 he calls it “the armor of light”:

12 Henceforth, the night is passed and the day is near.
Thus, let us lay aside from us the works of darkness
and let us put on the armor of light.
13 And let us walk in a manner as in the day,
not in reveling nor in drunkenness
nor in a defiled bed nor in envy and in strife.
(Rom. 13:12-13 HRV)

In 1Thes. 5:5-9 he again associates the armor with “light” and with our status as “sons of light”:

5 For you are all sons of light and sons of the day.
And you are not
sons of the night or sons of darkness.
6 Therefore, let us not sleep as others, but let us
be watchful and wise,
7 For those who are asleep sleep in the night,
and those who are drunk are drunk in the night.
8 But we who are sons of the day [should]
be watchful in our mind and
be clothed with the breastplate of faith and of love
and put on the helmet of the hope of life,
(1Thes. 5:5-9)

Throughout the New Testament there are extended metaphors revolving around light and darkness. Believers are called “sons of light” (Lk. 16:8; Jn. 12:36; Eph. 5:8; 1Thes. 5:5 see comments to Jn. 12:36). The full armor of Elohim is also called the “armor of light” (Rom. 13:12). The New Testament speaks of those “who walk in darkness” (Jn. 8:12;
12:35; 1Jn. 1:6; 2:11).

But what does this idiomatic use of the terms light and darkness mean? For the answer let us turn to the Tanak:

For the commandment is a lamp;
and the Torah is light…
(Prov. 6:23)

Your word is a lamp to my feet,
and a light to my path.
(Psalm 119:105)

To the Torah and to the testimony;
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
(Isaiah 8:20)

…for a Torah shall proceed from me,
and I will make my judgment to rest
for a light of the people.
(Isaiah 51:4)

So according to the Tanak the Torah is a light for our paths. Those that walk in the Torah walk in the light. This is why the New Testament speaks of those who walk in darkness (Jn. 8:12; 12:35; 1Jn. 1:6; 2:11). These are those who do not walk by the light of Torah. Of these John writes:

And if we say that we have fellowship with him,
and walk in darkness,
we are liars and we do not walk in truth.
(1Jn. 1:6)

Notice that John equates “walking in truth” with walking in the light. According to the Tanak, “the Torah is truth” (Ps. 119:142) thus if “walking in the light” means “walking in truth” then both phrases refer to walking in the Torah.

When we, as sons of light, put on the “armor of light”, we are putting on Torah as a garment!


All the Armor of Elohim

Paul’s most detailed treatment of the Armor is in Ephesians Chapter 6:

10 Henceforth, my brothers, be strong in our Adon and
in the might of his power,
11 and put on all the armor of Eloah, so that you may be able to
stand against the strategies of ‘Akel Kartza,
12 because your struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with
principalities and with authorities and with the possessors
of this dark world and with the evil spirits that are under
heaven.
13 Because of this, put on all the armor of Eloah that you
may be able to meet the evil one, and being prepared in
everything, you may stand firm.
14 Stand therefore, and gird up your loins with truth and put
on the breastplate of righteousness
15 And bind on your feet the preparation of the good news
of shalom.
16 And with these, take to you the shield of faith, by which
you will have power to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And put on the helmet of salvation and take hold of the
sword of the spirit, which is the word of Eloah.
18 And with all prayers, and with all petitions, pray at all times
in the spirit, and in prayer, be watchful in every season while
praying continually and making supplication on behalf of all
the set-apart-ones,
(Eph. 6:10-18 HRV)

Paul is clearly drawing from Wisdom of Solomon:

15: But the righteous live for evermore;
their reward also is with YHWH,
and the care of them is with the Most High.
16: Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom,
and a beautiful crown from the hand of YHWH:
for with his right hand shall he cover them,
and with his arm shall he protect them.
17: He shall take to him in his zeal all the armor,
and shall armor with him all his creation.
For the desolation of the detestable ones.
18: He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and judgment that is not false instead of an helmet.
19: He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.
20: His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword,
and the world shall fight with him against the foolish.
(Wisdom of Solomon 5:15-20 HRV)

Here Solomon not only discusses “all the armor [of Elohim]” but implies that YHWH shall arm us with his armor. It is this suggestion that prompts Paul’s concept of believers wearing “all the armor of Elohim”.

We as believers wear the armor of Elohim because we have a covenant with YHWH and one of the ancient Hebrew customs associated with entering a covenant with someone involved exchanging garments and swords with them (as in 1Sam. 18:4). We therefore are given the armor of Elohim to wear ourselves.

The concept of believer’s wearing this armor is also found in 4Maccabees 13:16:

Therefore put on the full armor of authority over the passions,
which belongs to the mind that fears Eloah.
(4Macc. 13:16 from the Aramaic)

The Torah defines the “fear of YHWH” as being Torah Observant:

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

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

You may have heard the Channukah story of the martyrdom of Hanna and her seven sons, who refused to forsake YHWH and embrace Hellenism 4Maccabees tells us that she overcame seeing her seven sons tortured and killed before being tortured and killed herself (2Macc. 7; 4Macc 8-13), because she was wearing the armor.


The Four Strategies of HaSatan

In the Aramaic of Ephesians 6:11 there is a wordplay in the original Aramaic between the words TZEN’TA (“strategies”) and ZAYNA (“armor”). There is in the armor of Elohim a built in contrast between the four strategies of HaSatan illustrated in the Tanak, and the four fixed items of armor in the armor of Elohim.



The Helmet of Salvation
(Is. 59:17; Wisdom 5:18)

Isaiah mentions the “helmet of salvation” (Is. 59:17) while Wisdom mentions the “helmet of judgment that is not false” (Wisdom 5:18). They are the same because in Hebrew “salvation” and “deliverance” are the same word (“Yeshua”) and YHWH’s deliverance on the last day is based on his judgment that is not false.

The ancient Hebrew warrior’s head and ears were protected by his helmet. The helmet of salvation protects us from HaSatan’s strategy of “accusation”. This is the strategy we see illustrated in the Tanak in Zecheriah 3:1-5 where HaSatan is accusing Yahushua the High Priest.

In Revelation 12:10 we read:

“…the accuser of our brothers… who accused them
day and night before our Eloah.”
(Rev. 12:10)

The strategy of accusation includes both “slander” and “lashon hara”. “Lashon HaRa” (the evil tongue) is the sin of harming another person with words, even when they are true. Those who would never harm a person with a stick, but would not hesitate to harm them with words.

The Torah tells us:

You shall not go up and down as a talebearer
among your people; neither shall you stand idly
by the blood of your neighbor: I am YHWH.
(Lev. 19:16)

When HaSatan comes before the throne of Elohim with accusation, there can be little doubt that the accusations are true (why would he even try to lie to the All-Knowing One). The Torah requires two witnesses for a case to brought. Thus HaSatan is always on the look out for a collaborating witness. When we engage in Lashon HaRa we place ourselves in the position of becoming HaSatan’s collaborating witness.

One of the terms used as a title for HaSatan in the Aramaic “New Testament” is “‘Akel Kartza”.

‘Akel Kartza is a compound term.

‘AKEL means “to devour” or “to consume”.

KARTZA means “hunch of bread; carping; pulling to pieces; accusation; disparagement, biting words, biting, current destruction.”

The ‘Akel Kartza uses biting words and accusation to consume and devour and to destroy. He is a slanderous backbiter.

The ‘Akel Kartza and his minions use lies, slander, Lashon HaRa and accusation to attack believers and nibble away and disparage the Body of Messiah.

The ‘Akel Kartza is ever in our midst seeking to destroy and always seeking a willing ear for his slanderous biting words.

Kefa tells us that in the first century “untaught and unstable” persons were “twisting” Paul’s words to make it appear he was teaching things he did not teach (2Kefa 3:15-16). Paul also tells us that he was “slanderously reported” as saying and teaching things that he had not said or taught (Rom. 3:8). When Paul arrived in Jerusalem in Acts 21 he was immediately approached regarding these slanderous reports of his teaching (Acts 21:20-21).

This was HaSatan’s tactic in the first century and it is still his tactic today. He is still using the same playbook.

Today ‘Akel Kartza has unstable minions twisting words and giving slanderous reports to attack many teachers in the Messianic/Nazarene movement. The levels of slanderous reports from unlearned and unstable persons seems to be reaching an all time high.

We should not be surprised by this. The Scripture warns us that in the last days HaSatan will wage a special war against the “remnant” a group who “keep the commandments of Eloah and have the testimony of Yeshua” (Rev. 12:17).

Those who advocate Yeshua as Messiah and Torah Observance are therefore special targets of Akel Kartza and “slanderous reports” from “unstable” persons.

As believers we must be careful not to entertain the ‘Akel Kartza by entertaining Lashon HaRa (evil speech).

Happy are they which are persecuted
for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Happy are you when men shall revile you,
and persecute you, and shall say all evil against you
falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be glad,
for great is your reward in heaven,
for persecuted they the prophets .
-Matt. 5:10-12 HRV


The Breastplate of Righteousness
(Is. 59:17; Wisdom 5:18)

The “Breastplate of righteousness” is mentioned in Is. 59:17 and Wisdom 5:19. The Hebrew word for “breastplate” is SHIRYON (Strong’s 8302). This word more accurately refers to “chain mail”. Ancient Hebrew chain mail was made of tiny interlinked chains of brass. Since brass chains can easily become corroded and brittle. It was important that an ancient Hebrew warrior keep his chain mail clean, polished and shiny, otherwise it would develop weak spots and be susceptible to enemy attacks. This is just like our righteousness, we must keep our righteousness polished and shiny, otherwise it becomes weak and subject to attack by the enemy.

The Torah says:

And it will be righteousness for us
if we are careful to observe all
this commandment before YHWH our Elohim,
just as He commanded us.
(Deut. 6:25)

…if he walks in My statutes and My ordinances
so as to deal faithfully– he is righteous…
(Ezek. 18:9)

…it is those who obey the Torah who will be
declared righteous.
(Rom. 2:13– WOW! You mean Paul said THAT?!?!)

Wearing the breastplate of righteousness means to be careful to observe all the commandments before YHWH our Elohim. We must keep our chain mail of Torah righteousness clean, polished and shiny so as not to give the enemy a weak point to attack.

Our chain mail of Torah righteousness defends us against HaSatan’s attack of temptation. “Temptation” is the strategy of HaSatan illustrated in the Tanak in 1Chron. 21:1. In this passage of the Tanak, David is tempted to take a census of Israel. Paul tells us:

Because of this also, I could not endure
until I had sent to know your faith,
lest the tempter had tempted you
and our labor had been in vain.
(1Thes. 3:5)

If we are careful to observe Torah, we will be protected from the temptation of HaSatan.


The Belt of Truth
(Is. 11:5)

The belt of truth is taken from Isaiah 11:5. Ancient Hebrews wore loose fitting tunic like garments with skirt like bottoms. Belts were used to hold the loose fitting garment together. Hebrew warriors would gird up the skirt of their garment and tuck it under the belt to free up their legs for battle, preventing them from getting tripped up in their loose fitting garment. In the same way truth keeps us from getting tripped up by error.

our righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,
and your Torah is truth.
(Psalm 119:142)

You are near, O YHWH,
and all your commandments are truth.
(Psalm 119:151)

This definition explains many phrases in the New Testament:

“Obey the truth” (Gal. 3:1)

“But he that does truth…” (Jn. 3:20)

And I rejoice that I found your children walking in the truth,
as we have received a commandment from the Father.
(2Jn. 1:4)

The Tanak definition of truth gives whole new meaning to Yeshua’s words:

For this I have been born, and for this I have
come into the world, to bear witness of the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.
(John 18:37-38)

Yeshua came to bear witness of the Torah, those who hear the Torah hear his voice. This leads us to another important saying from Yeshua:

Then Yeshua said to those Jews who believed on him,
you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free.
(John 8:31-32)

Paul, however, speaks of those “who changed the truth of Elohim into a lie” (Rom. 1:25) Now if Messiah came to bear witness of the truth then what has HaSatan to bear witness to?

The scriptures tell us:

He [the devil] was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not the truth in him. When he speaks a lie,
he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
(John 8:44)

…HaSatan, who deceives the whole world…
(Rev. 12:9)

When HaSatan speaks a lie, he is merely speaking his native language.

The Torah is truth and keeps us from being tripped up by Torahlessness (lawlessness). The Torah is a guide that keeps us free from error. The belt of Torah truth protects us from HaSatan’s strategy of deception. This strategy of deception is illustrated in the Tanak in Gen. 3:1-6 in which the serpent deceived Hava (Eve) Rev. 12:9 tells us HaSatan deceives the whole world. Yeshua said that HaSatan is the father of lies (Jn. 8:44). The belt of Torah Truth is our protection against HaSatan’s deception.


The Shoes of the Goodnews of Shalom
(Is. 52:7)

Isaiah never actually mentions “shoes” but he does have this to say about the feet of Messiah:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet
of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace;
that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation;
that said unto Zion, Your Elohim reigns!
(Is. 52:7)

For an ancient Hebrew warrior shoes were important. Although not actually part of the armor, shoes protected a warrior’s feet from the oppression of sharp jagged rocks. Such sharp rocks could easily distract a warrior from the actual battle he was carrying on with the enemy.

The shoes protect us from HaSatan’s strategy of oppression. The strategy of oppression is illustrated in the Tanak in the book of Job in which HaSatan is allowed to oppress Job. In Acts 10:38 we read that Yeshua “healed those who were oppressed by evil”. The Apocryphal book of 4th Maccabees deals with martyrs who were oppressed under Antiochus Epiphanies. 4th Maccabees is a handbook on using the armor, especially in dealing with oppression. 4th Maccabees opens saying:

The word of philosophy that I am about to discuss before you:
If the true mind of shalom (peace) is sovereign to the fear
of Elohim. I am an upright advisor to you, that you should
pay earnest attention in philosophy.
(4Macc. 1:1 – from the Aramaic)

4th Maccabees then discusses the martyrdom of Eleazer saying:

No city besieged ever held out against
mighty vassals coming against its walls
and its various parts like this. He was
dressed in all the armor. For while his
soul was suffering, consumed by torture,
and by tribulation, and by burning, he
conquered the tribulation because of his
mind was fighting with the shield of truth.
(4Macc. 7:4 – From the Aramaic)

Finally 4th Maccabees discusses the martyrdom of Hanna and her seven sons saying:

Therefore put on the full armor of authority over the passions,
which belongs to the mind that fears Eloah.
(4Macc. 13:16 – From the Aramaic)

The Goodnews (“The Gospel”) is the “word of truth” (Col. 1:5) which is to be obeyed (2Thes. 1:8).The Gospel is the message Yeshua taught (Mt. 4:23) in fact it is a message he taught in the Temple ( Lk. 20:1).According to Mt. 4:12-17 this message was the “light” of Is. 8:23-9:1(9:1-2) and if we look at Is. 8:20, we see that this “light” is the Torah. Also according to Matthew 12:17-21, this message is the Torah as quoted in Is. 42:1-4.(Note that the Greek text of Mt. 12:21 ends the quote from Is. 42:4 before the phrase about Torah, however DuTillet Hebrew Matthew contains the whole quote. If we diligently search the Tanak we will find that the Torah is his “Word” (Is. 2:3; Deut. 17:19; 27:1-3; 27:26; 31:12; 32:45-46; 2Kn. 23:24; Neh. 8:9) and the Torah is truth (Ps. 119:142, 151). Obviously then the “word of truth” which must be obeyed is the Torah.

It is with the Goodnews (Torah) of Shalom (peace) that we are able to overcome the oppression of HaSatan. Through the Torah we can have the true mind of shalom and overcome oppression.


The Shield of Faith
(Wisdom 5:19; 4Macc. 7:4)

The shield of faith the first of the two mobile items of armor. As such it can be used to defend against attack. In Wisdom of Solomon 5:19 it is called the “shield of holiness”. “Holiness” is set-apart-ness and our set apartness comes from our faith. The Psalmist writes:

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

The Torah therefore is the way of faith. The Torah is a shield which can protect us from any of the four strategies of HaSatan. In 2nd and 4th Maccabees we read the story of the martyr Eleazar (2Macc. 6:1-29; 4Macc. 7) Eleazer was a prominent Jew under the Helene rule. A day came when all of the Jews were to show their loyalty by eating meat
offered to idols at a public feast. Eleazar was not willing to do so, but because of his prominence, the authorities offered to allow him to sneak kosher meat into the feast and eat it instead, thus only appearing to eat meat offered up to idols. Eleazer refused, knowing that this would appear to endorse idolatry, despite the fact that the meat would be kosher. As a result Eleazar was tortured and executed. (This was the basis for Paul’s argument in 1Cor. 10:28). 4Maccabees tells us that Eleazer was able to stand fast his ground and not give into the torture or the threat of death because he had the armor and
the shield:

No city besieged ever held out against
mighty vassals coming against its walls
and its various parts like this. He was
dressed in all the armor. For while his
soul was suffering, consumed by torture,
and by tribulation, and by burning, he
conquered the tribulation because of his
mind was fighting with the shield of truth.
(4Macc. 7:4 – From the Aramaic)


The Sword of the Spirit Which is the Word
(Wisdom 5:19-20; 18:16)

The Wisdom of Solomon says:

“His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword,…”
(Wisdom 5:20)

Your all powerful Word leaped from heaven,
from the royal throne,
into the midst of the land that was doomed,
a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword
of your authentic command…
(Wisdom 18:15-16)

Paul writes in Hebrews:

For the living and strong Word of Elohim
is sharper than a two-edged sword and
penetrating until it separates the n’shoma
(upper-soul) and the ruach (spirit) also dividing
the limbs and piercing the bones which are
in them discerning the thoughts and
understanding of the heart.”
(Heb. 4:12 – HRV)

What does the Tanak say that the “Word of God” is?

Hear the word of YHWH… give ear to the Torah
of our Elohim,…
(Isaiah 1:10)

…For the Torah will go out from Zion;
and the Word of YHWH from Jerusalem.
(Isaiah 2:3)

Note that just as “Zion” and “Jerusalem” are synonyms in this poetic parallelism, so are “Torah” and the “Word of YHWH”. If we diligently search the Tanak we will find that the Torah is his “Word” (Is. 1:10; 2:3; Deut. 17:19; 27:1-3; 27:26; 31:12; 32:45-46; 2Kn. 23:24; Neh. 8:9)

The Sword of the Word is our only offensive weapon in our fight against HaSatan is the Torah. The Talmud says:

Whoever reads the Shema upon his bed is as though he holds
a two edged sword in his hand (to ward off evil spirits); as it
is said “Let the high praises of Elohim be in their mouth,
and a two edged sword in their hand” (Ps. 149:6)
(b.Ber. 5a)

Our Rent is Due in just three days (3/1/23), and we do not have it!

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

Submissive Wives and Women Teachers

Submissive Wives and Women Teachers
By
James Scott Trimm

And YHWH Elohim said: “It is not good that the man should be alone;
I will make him a helper for him.”
(Gen. 2:18)

For many years now the traditional family structure has been under attack. Many women in the world today are seemingly determined to balance out the supposed deficiencies of husbands that they view as “spineless”. This Feminist way of the world has certainly spilled over into the Body of Messiah. The Torah is clear, the wife is to be a helper for her husband (Gen. 2:18) and he is to rule over her (Gen. 3:16). Paul speaks of this Torah based arrangement when he writes:

Wives be subject to your husbands as to our Adon,
Because the husband is the head of the wife,
Even as the Messiah is head of the Assembly;
and he is the life-giver of the body.
But even as the Assembly is subject to the Messiah,
So also wives [should be subject] to their husbands in everything.
(Eph. 5:22-27)

Wives be subject to your husbands,
according to that which is right in the Messiah.
(Col. 3:18)

And also the elder women… should be… causing those who are younger [women] … so that they be subject to their husbands…”
(Titus 2:3-5)

But I want you to know that the head of every man is the Messiah,
And the head of the woman is the man,
And the head of Messiah is Eloah….
A man… is the likeness and glory of Eloah;
But the woman is the glory of man,
For the man is not from the woman
But the woman from the man;
And neither was the man made for the woman
But the woman for the man.
(1Cor. 11:3, 7-9)

Kefa also alludes to this Torah based arrangement when he writes:

Likewise also, wives, be subject to your husbands…
For thus also, set-apart women from before,
those who trusted in Eloah, adorned themselves
and were subject to their husbands,
As Sarah was subject to Avraham and called him,
My master (see Gen. 18:12)…
(1Kefa 3:1-6)

The fact that YHWH has chosen husbands rather than wives to lead households does not infer that women are in any sense inferior to man in brain-power. This is simply a matter of recognizing YHWH’s order. Any other order is disorder and “Eloah is not the author of confusion”(1Cor. 14:33) Just as a craft can only have one pilot, a house can only have one leader.

Now there are two passages which have been misunderstood in the KJV to say that women should keep silent in the assembly and should never teach men. In fact these passages actually says that wives should learn from their husbands and not be so “presumptuous” as to try to “teach” or “instruct” their husbands. Paul writes:

Let a wife learn in quietness with all submission,
For I do not allow a wife to teach
nor to be presumptuous over the husband,
but she should be in shalom.
For Adam, was formed first (see Gen. 2:7) and then Havah (Gen. 2:22)
And Adam did not err, but the women erred
and transgressed against the commandment; (see Sira 25:24)
(1Tim. 2:11-14)

Since the wife is to be subject to her husband, and he is to rule over her, it would be proper for her to accept instruction from her husband, and presumptuous for her to attempt to instruct him. The woman’s intended role was to be a helper (Gen. 2:18) and after her transgression she was told that her husband would rule over her (Gen. 3:16).

Why does Scripture require the woman to submit to her husband and recognize his headship?

  1. Man was created first (1Tim. 2:13; Gen. 2:7, 22) and woman was originally created as a HELPER for man (Gen. 2:20f) and not man for the woman (1Cor. 11:7-9)
  2. Woman, not man, erred in the Garden of Eden (1Tim. 2:14; Sira 25:24) thus woman was commanded that her husband would rule over her (Gen. 3:16).
  3. The Hebrew word for husband “Ba’al” means “Husband” or “Master”

Yeshua Ben Sira writes:

24 Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die.
25 For just as you do not let the water go and abound, thus do not
let the wicked wife go and sin.
26 And if she will not follow your direction, cut her off from your
flesh, and divorce her from your house.
(Ben Sira 25:24-26)

The woman who does not recognize the headship of her husband, does not subject herself to him, but seeks to instruct him rather than to be instructed by him, is guilty of a form of Z’NOT (commonly translated “fornication” but also simply “going astray”). YHWH’s definition of marriage is an institution in which the husband is head over the wife and the wife subjects herself to him as a helper. In fact the Hebrew word for “husband” (Ba’al) means “husband” or “master”. If a wife refuses to subject herself to the headship of her husband, no true “marriage” exists and the husband is free to give her a bill of divorcement.

Another passage that is commonly misunderstood on this matter is as follows:

Let your wives be silent in the assembly,
for they are not allowed to speak,
but are to be subject as even the Torah says. (Gen. 3:16)
And if they want to learn a thing,
let them ask their husbands at home.
For it is a shame that wives should speak in the assembly.
(1Cor. 14:34-35)

Again the KJV misunderstands the word here as “women” but the word is properly understood as “wives”. Notice that Paul states that his halacha on this matter is based on the idea that wives are to be subject “as even the Torah says”. The context here is that a synagogue had a dividing wall (m’chitzah) separating the men from the women. In order for a wife to ask her husband a question, she would have to stand up and speak over the m’chitzah (dividing wall) thus disrupting the meeting.

In fact in the Scriptures women served in the offices of Judge/Elderess (Judges 4:4-5; Titus 2:3) evangelist (Jn. 4:28-29, 39) shamish (Romans 16:1) prophetess (Acts 14:21; 21:9) and even emissary (Rom. 16:7). So while wives are to be subject to their husbands, women are certainly permitted to speak in the assembly and to serve in the above offices.

How we Survived the Texas Snow-pocalypse

Shalom Chaverim,

Last week was certainly an adventure, and it had me so busy that I am just now having an opportunity to tell you all about it. There are certainly lessons to be learned regarding preparedness.

Week before last we were all very excited. We were expecting snow! For those of you up north, that is just an annoyance, but this part of Texas (Dallas / Fort Worth) had not seen snow (or any measurable frozen precipitation) in over four years! My wife and I did not even know what our current neighborhood looked like with a blanket of snow. Many children in the area had not seen snow in person, or could not remember it. My adult daughter with cancer was excited to know she would see snow again in her lifetime.

My wife and I are generally prepared, we had a half cord of firewood on the back porch and food, knowing that the roads would be hazardous (Texans avoid driving on this stuff, we don’t have enough practice, and also know that the guy next to you doesn’t know how, even if you do).

Sunday came, and the snow came, and we were all very excited. My wife made video of our dogs playing in the snow. Children made snow men. The news began warning people that we might have rolling blackouts of 10 to 45 minutes at a time. No big deal, we had prepared for that. We had firewood and a lantern, and power banks for our cell phones.

Monday morning the outside temperature had gotten down to 5 degrees! That was temp for the record books here in Texas. Just then, at that 5 degree low, the power went out. We were not worried, because the rolling blackouts were only going to be 10 to 45 minutes. After 45 minutes we tried to contact Oncor (the electric delivery company), but the only method of reaching them that worked was the Oncor App. We used it to report the outage, and it gave an estimated repair time of 10:30 AM, less than two hours away at that time. So still we were OK, and we put extra wood on the fireplace fire. 10:30 AM came and went and still no power, and now the app says estimated repair time is “to be determined”. We are getting worried, as the forecast low for the coming night was a record setting low single digit (various forecasts had between 3 and 1 degrees).

At 4:00 PM Monday the power comes back on. My wife literally bursts into tears of relief, as she has been so stressed about facing the coming super low temps. I quickly put a post of spaghetti on to cook. But after only 20 minutes, the power goes out again. The spaghetti finished cooking on its own in the hot water and I warmed up the sauce in a saucepan by the fire.

Now the Oncor app gives an estimated repair time of 8:30 PM, which comes and goes and then the app says “being determined”. We are able to keep up with news with our cell phones and they are saying that power should be restored Tuesday afternoon or evening.

Monday night I manage to make dinner for us, from my childhood experience in boy scouts (when the BSA was still a great organization). I mixed ground beef, diced potatoes, green beans and corn (and seasoning) into a “blob” wrapped in aluminum foil, which I place near the hot coals of the fire. In Boy Scouts we called these “trail burgers”. They were really good.

Monday night into Tuesday morning was a trial. I was feeding as much wood into the fireplace as I could. The outside temperature plummeted to one degree below zero! (That set some kind of record). The fire from the fireplace was our only heat. That night our living room got down to 48 degrees! I never thought that I would be in my own home, literally burning firewood to survive! I knew there must be so many out there without a fireplace, or without enough firewood… that would literally freeze to death in their own homes! (More and more stories are coming out of those who did.)

Those without enough firewood, turned to burning furniture to survive!

Tuesday morning the app still says “being determined” but the news is shifting from power being restored that afternoon or evening, to “in several more days”. I did the math, and our firewood would run out by Wednesday morning. I called around, but everyone was out of firewood. We were also hearing stories that grocery store shelves were bare. Most restaurants were either without power, running out of food fast with huge lines, or closed because they were out of food. There was literally no firewood or food to be had. And on top of that, all hotels were either out of power themselves, or booked solid.

If all this was not bad enough, a second wave snow storm was headed into DFW Wednesday evening. The mayor of North Richland Hills made a video telling citizens to get out of there homes and find shelter somewhere.

I started thinking out of the box now. I thought of the cabins up at Lake Murray State Park in Oklahoma. They were just across the border into Oklahoma, about an hour and fifteen minute drive (under normal conditions). I called, and they had a cabin available. I booked it, and we packed as quickly as I could… we would be driving into the snowstorm heading our way! But we had to get out of Texas and away from the Texas power grid. The cabins have heat and a kitchen.

Lake Murray State Park used to be a “go to” spot for Sukkot events.

We drive into the snow on I-35 (the same highway where icy roads had recently caused a 120 car pile up and eight deaths.) About halfway there the snowfall became intense and visibility was very bad. On the way an 18 wheeler nearly hit us. We managed to make it to the lodge and rent a cabin. The road from the lodge to the cabin was almost impassible and visibility was low. At one point our tiers spun out and we were almost stuck. We pulled up to the cabin and the cabin itself is about twenty five feet from the parking spot. There is over six inches of snow on the ground and snow is falling very heavy. We trudged thru the snow to the cabin where there was warmth (then I made several trips unpacking the car. The cabin was rustic (pictured below after the snow began to melt). There was no actual phone line, and no wifi. The only phone or internet was thru our phones. But there was heat, there was power and there was a small kitchen. Here we were snowed in for a few days.

Our cabin after the snow began to melt.

Many people in Texas froze to death waiting for the power to come back on.

An eleven year old boy, froze to death in his own bed.

One man froze to death in a recliner, while his wife holding his hand, barely held onto life.

The “rolling blackouts” never happened. Power failed to 25 percent of the homes in the state and then stayed off for several days.

City water pumps were also without power, and water mains burst, leaving many without water. Those that had water were being warned to boil it… but they had no way to do so without power!

This was a good lesson on how bad things can get in just 24 hours. Stores were picked clean, no food, no water, no heat, no power, no firewood and no hotel rooms! Sub zero temperatures outside and and another snow storm coming in!

The decision to leave home and head into the storm was a difficult one, but it very well may have saved our lives!

This ordeal also cost us money that we frankly did not have to spend! The rent on the cabin alone came to about $600! Plus we are having, ironically, to replace a lot of our refrigerated food.

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.

Messiah in the Torah- Parsha T’tzaveh

Torah Parsha T’tzaveh Ex. 27:20-30:10
Haftorah: Ezekiel 27:20-30:10

In this weeks parsha (2/27/21) we read about the anointing oil, the vestments of the High Priest, the consecration of the priests, the daily offerings and the alter of incense.

Among these vestments is the “breastplate of judgement.”:

[15] And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.
[16] Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.
[17] And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row.
[18] And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.
[19] And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.
[20] And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings.
[21] And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.
[22] And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold.
[23] And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.
[24] And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate.
[25] And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod before it.
[26] And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward.
[27] And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod.
[28] And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.
[29] And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.
[30] And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.
(Exodus 28:15-30 KJV)

The Hellenist Jews called the “breastplate of judgement” (חֹ֤שֶׁן מִשְׁפָּט֙) the “oracle of judgment” (λογεῖον τῶν κρίσεων) (as in the LXX) where the word “oracle” comes from the Greek Logos.

Philo of Alexandria writes of the breastplate/oracle of judgment:

…the twelve stones arranged on the breast in four rows of three stones each, namely the logeum (the breastplate of judgment), being also an emblem of that reason (Logos, Word) which holds together and regulates the universe. For it was indispensable that the man who was consecrated to the Father of the world, should have as a paraclete, his Son, the being most perfect in all virtue, to procure forgiveness of sins, and a supply of unlimited blessings;
(Life of Moses II, 133-134)

This Greek word (paraclete) is also a Hebrew and Aramaic word also appears in the Mishna:

He who does even a single religious duty
gets himself a good advocate (or comforter Hebrew: paraklita)
he who does even a single transgression
gets himself a prosecutor.
(m.Avot 4:11a)

And in the Talmud it is used to refer to the sin offering::

R. Simeon said: For what purpose does a sin-offering come? —
[You ask,] ‘for what purpose does a sin-offering come?’
Surely in order to make atonement! —
Rather, [the question is:]
Why does it come before the burnt-offering?
[Because it is] like an intercessor (paraklita) who enters
[to appease the King]: When the intercessor (paraklita)
has appeased [him], the gift follows.
(b.Zev. 7b)

The Jewish Dictionary states:

…The sin offering is like the parclete (paraklita) before God, it interceded for man and is followed by another… a thank offering for the pardon obtained… the two daily burnt offerings are called ‘the two parcletes’…
Jewish Dictionary pp. 514-515

Yochanan, who identifies the Messiah as the Word (logos) in Jn. 1:1-3, 14 and Rev. 19:13 also says of Messiah:

1 My sons, I write these [things] to you, that you do not sin: and if someone should sin, we have an advocate (paraklita) with the Father, Yeshua the Messiah, the just [One].
2 For He is the propitiation for our sins, and not on behalf of ours only, but also on behalf of [the sins of] the whole world.
(1st Yochanan (John) 2:1)

So in today’s Torah reading, we see the Messiah as the Paraklita and Logos (Word), and as the heavenly High Priest procuring forgiveness of our sins, and a supply of unlimited blessings.

We Need Your Support!

The last two years have been a real trial for us, and the last two months especially so. As you all probably know, our lives have never been the same since my wife returned home from a nearly two month hospitalization and septic shock in 2018.

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!

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

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.

Messiah in the Torah- Parsha T’rumah

Torah Parsha T’rumah Ex. 25:1-27:19
Haftorah: 1Kings 5:26(5:12)-6:13

This weeks parsha deals with the Tabernacle and it’s furnishings, and the haftorah reading deals with Solomon’s Temple.

In the Book of Hebrews Paul writes of the furnishings of the Tabernacle:

1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
(Hebrews 9:1-5 KJV)

Paul is telling us that he has information was of a SOD (secret) nature that he was not permitted to reveal to the world at that time.  There are, in fact, many wonderful things we can learn concerning the Ark of the Covenant.  In this article I will deal with just the one.

The Zohar tells us that the two cherubim mounted on the mercy seat (the cover) represent the opposing male and female aspects of YHWH:

“It has been taught: Three times daily a miracle occurred with their wings.  When the holiness of the King was manifested upon them, they raised their wings in their own, spreading them and shielding the cover.  Afterward, they folded their wings, resting them on their bodies, as is written: The cherubim shall be spreading wings above (Ex. 25:20)– spreading, not [with wings] spread.  Sheltering the cover with their wings (ibid.)– not with sheltering wings.  For they stood miraculously, rejoicing in Shekhinah.”

Rabbi Abba said, “What is this doing here: For in the cloud I appear over the cover (Leviticus 16:2)? And it is written: בזאת (Be-zot), With this shall Aaron enter the sanctuary (ibid.,3). After all, the priest did not see when he entered!  Well, the cloud descended, and when it descended it reached this cover, and the wings of the cherubim stirred and they fluttered them and uttered song.

“What song did they sing? For great is YHVH and highly praised, awesome is He over all gods (Psalms 96:4).  This, when they raised their wings;  when they spread them, they would say, For all gods of the peoples are useless, but YHVH has made the heavens (ibid., 5). When they shielded the cover, they would say, Before YHVH, for He comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world with righteousness, render judgment upon the nations with equity (Psalms 98:9).

“The priest would hear their voices in the Temple, and then he set the incense in its place, focusing his intention so that all would be blessed. The sound of cherubim’s wings ascended and descended as they chanted song; they sheltered the cover, and then raised them, as it is written: sheltering [the cover] with their wings (Exodus 25:20)– sheltering, precisely! And how do we know that their sound was heard?  As is written: I heard the sound of their wings… (Ezekiel 1:24).”

Rabbi Yose said, “He will render judgment upon the nations במישרים (be-meisharim), with equity.  What is be-meisharim, with equity?  As is said: מישרים (Meisharim), Rightly, do they love you (Song of Songs 1:4)– including both cherubim, male and female; meisharim, surely!  Thus, He will render judgment upon the nations with meisharim.  And it is written: He would hear the voice being spoken to him from between the two cherubim, and he would speak to him (Numbers 7:89).

Rabbi Yitzak said, “From here we learn that wherever male and female are not found, one is not worthy to see the face of the Shekhinah, as is written: ישרים (Yesharim), The upright, will dwell in Your presence (Psalms 140:14).  And we have learned: It is written Righteous and upright is He (Deuteronomy 32:4)– male and female.  Here too, the cherubim– male and female– of whom is written It was You who founded מישרים (meisharim) , equity (Psalms 99:4); He will render judgment upon the nations במישרים (be-meisharim), with equity.  Thus, their faces toward each other (Exodus 25:20), and we have established.”
(Zohar 3:59a Pritzker edition)

The first century Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria taught that the two cherubim represented “the two most ancient and supreme powers of the divine God, namely, his creative and his kingly power”:

(97) But the ark is the depository of the laws, for in that are placed the holy oracles of God, which were given to Moses; and the covering of the ark, which is called the mercy-seat, is a foundation for two winged creatures to rest upon, which are called, in the native language of the Hebrews, cherubim, but as the Greeks would translate the word, vast knowledge and science. (98) Now some persons say, that these cherubim are the symbols of the two hemispheres, placed opposite to and fronting one another, the one beneath the earth and the other above the earth, for the whole heaven is endowed with wings. (99) But I myself should say, that what is here represented under a figure are the two most ancient and supreme powers of the divine God, namely, his creative and his kingly power; and his creative power is called God; according to which he arranged, and created, and adorned this universe, and his kingly power is called Lord, by which he rules over the beings whom he has created, and governs them with justice and firmness; (100) for he, being the only true living God, is also really the Creator of the world; since he brought things which had no existence into being; and he is also a king by nature, because no one can rule over beings that have been created more justly than he who created them.
(Life of Moses II)

(57) Why God places a cherubim in front of the Paradise, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life? (Gen. 3:24). The name cherubim designates the two original virtues which belong to the Deity, namely, his creative and his royal virtues. The one of which has the title of God, the other, or the royal virtue, that of Lord. Now the form of the creative power is a peaceable, and gentle, and beneficent virtue; but the royal power is a legislative, and chastising, and correcting virtue.
(QA1Gen)

Philo also taught that “the third thing which was between the two, and had the effect of bringing them together was reason (the LOGOS) [Word]:

(27) I have also, on one occasion, heard a more ingenious train of reasoning from my own soul, which was accustomed frequently to be seized with a certain divine inspiration, even concerning matters which it could not explain even to itself; which now, if I am able to remember it accurately, I will relate. It told me that in the one living and true God there were two supreme and primary powers–goodness and authority; and that by his goodness he had created everything, and by his authority he governed all that he had created; (28) and that the third thing which was between the two, and had the effect of bringing them together was reason (the LOGOS), for that it was owing to reason that God was both a ruler and good. Now, of this ruling authority and of this goodness, being two distinct powers, the cherubim were the symbols, but of reason the flaming sword was the symbol. For reason (the LOGOS) is a thing capable of rapid motion and impetuous, and especially the reason of the Creator of all things is so, inasmuch as it was before everything and passed by everything, and was conceived before everything, and appears in everything. (29) And do thou, O my mind, receive the impression of each of these cherubims unadulterated, that thus becoming thoroughly instructed about the ruling authority of the Creator of all things and about his goodness, thou mayest receive a happy inheritance; for immediately thou shalt understand the conjunction and combination of these imperishable powers, and learn in what respects God is good, his majesty arising from his sovereign power being all the time conspicuous; and in what he is powerful, his goodness, being equally the object of attention, that is this way thou mayest attain to the virtues which are engendered by these conceptions, namely, a love and a reverential awe of God, neither being uplifted to arrogance by any prosperity which may befall thee, having regard always to the greatness of the sovereignty of thy King; nor abjectly giving up hope of better things in the hour of unexpected misfortune, having regard, then, to the mercifulness of thy great and bounteous God. (30) And let the flaming sword teach thee that these things might be followed by a prompt and fiery reason combined with action, which never ceases being in motion with rapidity and energy to the selection of good objects, and the avoidance of all such as are evil.  (31) Do you not see that even the wise Abraham, when he began to measure everything with a reference to God, and to leave nothing to the creature, took an imitation of the flaming sword, namely, “fire and a Sword,” being eager to slay and to burn that mortal creature which was born of him, that so being raised on high it might soar up to God, the intellect being thus disentangled from the body.
(On the Cherubim 27-31)

Philo taught that it was the Word which spoke to Moses from between the two cherubim:

XXXIV. (165) And he apportioned cold and heat, and summer and spring, the different seasons of the year, divided by the same dividing Word. And the three days which passed before the creation of the sun, are equal in number to the three days of the first week which came after the creation of the sun, the number six being dissected equally in order to display the character of eternity and of time. For thus God allotted three days to eternity before the appearance of the sun, and those which came after the sun he allotted to time; the sun being an imitation of eternity, and time and eternity being the two primary powers of the living God; (166) the one his beneficent power, in accordance with which he made the world, and in respect of which he is called God; the other his chastening power, according to which he rules and governs what he has created, in respect of which he is further denominated Lord, and these two he here states to be divided in the middle by him standing above them both. “For,” says he, “I will speak to you from above the mercy-seat, in the midst, between the two Cherubims;”(Exodus 25:22). that he might show that the most ancient powers of the living God are equal; that is to say, his beneficent and his chastising power, being both divided by the same dividing Word.
(Who is the Heir of All Divine Things )

XIX. (100) These, then, are the six cities which Moses calls cities of refuge, five of which have had their figures set forth in the sacred scriptures, and their images are there likewise. The images of the cities of command and prohibition are the laws in the ark; that of the merciful power of God is the covering of the ark, and he calls it the mercy-seat. The images of the creative power and of the kingly power are the winged cherubim which are placed upon it. (101) But the divine word which is above these does not come into any visible appearance, inasmuch as it is not like to any of the things that come under the external senses, but is itself an image of God, the most ancient of all the objects of intellect in the whole world, and that which is placed in the closest proximity to the only truly existing God, without any partition or distance being interposed between them: for it is said, “I will speak unto thee from above the mercyseat, in the midst, between the two Cherubim.” (Exodus 25:22). So that the word is, as it were, the charioteer of the powers, and he who utters it is the rider, who directs the charioteer how to proceed with a view to the proper guidance of the universe.
(On Flight and FInding)

Philo writes concerning the Menorah:

(218) Concerning the candlestick above mentioned, the artist speaks again a second time and says, that from its different branches there are three arms projecting out on each side, equals in all respects to one another, and having on the top lamps like nuts, in the shape of flowers supporting the lights; (Ex. 5:33.) the seventh flower being fashioned on the top of the candlestick of solid gold, and having seven golden places for lights above them; (219) so that in many accounts it has been believed to be fashioned in such a manner because the number six is divided into two triads by the Word (Logos), making the seventh and being placed in the midst of them; as indeed is the case now. For the entire candlestick with its six most entire and principal parts was made so as to consist of seven lamps, and seven flowers, and seven lights; and the six lights are divided by the seventh. (220) And in like manner the flowers are divided by that which comes in the middle; and in the same manner also the lamps are divided by the seventh which comes in the middle. But the six branches, and the equal number of arms which shoot out are divided by the main trunk itself which makes up the number seven. (Who is the Heir of All Divine Things 219-220 )

So the Menorah also gives us a symbol of the Logos as being the place in the middle.

Thus we learn that the two Cherubim represent the distinctive male and female aspects of YHWH which are expressed in “goodness” as YHWH’s “creative” aspect and “authority” as YHWH’s “kingship” aspect.  And that the sword of fire is the “Word” which brings these two aspects together and which spoke to Moses from between the two cherubim. 

This is the same balance between judgement and mercy of which the Sefer Yetzirah says:

Three “mothers”: Alef; Mem and Shin
Their foundation is a pan of merit
a pan of liability
and the tongue of decree deciding between them.
(Sefer Yetzirah 3:1)

Three “mothers”, Alef, Mem, Shin
in the universe are air, water, fire…
(Sefer Yetzirah 3:4a)

The Zohar expands on this, saying:

The [profession of] unity that every day is [a profession of] unity
is to be understood and to be perceived. We have said in many places
that this prayer is a profession of Unity that is proclaimed:

”Hear O Yisrael, YHWH“ first, [then] “Eloheynu” [and] “YHWH” they are all One and thus He is called “One”.

Behold, these are three names, how can they be one? Is it because we call them one? (literally: And also concerning the proclamation that we call them one?). How these are one can only through the vision of the Holy Sprit be known. And these are through the vision of the closed eye (or the hidden eye) To make known that these three are one.
And this is the mystery of the voice that is heard. The voice is one. And is three GAUNIN: fire and air and water. And all these are one in the mystery of the voice.

And also here “YHWH, Eloheynu, YHWH” these are One. Three GAUNIN that are One. And this is the voice of the act of a son of man in [proclaiming] the Unity.
And to which he sees by the Unity of the “All” from Eyn Sof (the Inifinite One) to the end of the “All”. Because of the voice in which it is done, in these are three that are one.

And this is the [profession] of the daily profession of Unity that is revealed in the mystery of the Holy Spirit.

And there are many GAUNIN that are a Unity, and all of them are true, what the one does, that the other does, and what that one does, the other does.
(Zohar 2:43)

יחוד דכל יומא. איהו יחוד למנדע ולשואה רעותא.
יחודא דא. הא אמרן בכמה דוכתי יחיד דכל מא איהו יחוד דקרא. שמע ישראל יי קדמאח. אלהינו יי. הא כלהו חד. ועד אקרי אחד.
הא תלת שמהין אינון. היך אינון חד ואף על גב דקרינן אחד. היך אינון חד. אלא בחזיונא דרוח קודשא אתיידע. ואינון בחיזו דעינא סתימא. למנדע דתלתא אלין אחד.
ודא איהו רזא דקול דאשתמע. קול איהו חד.ואיהו תלתא גוונין. אשא ורוחא ומיא. וכלהו חד ברזא דקול.
ואף הכא יי אלהינו יי אינון חד תלתא גוונין דאינון חד. ודא איהו קול דעביד בר נש ביחודא ולשוואה רעותיה בחודא דכלא מאין סוף עד סופא דכלא. בהאי קול דקא עביד בהני תלתא דאינון חד.
ודא איהו יחודא דכל יומא דאתגלי ברזא דרוח קודשא.
וכמה גוונין דיחודא אתערו וכלהו קשוט. מאן דעביד האי עביד ומן דעביד האי עביד.

(The Aramaic word GA’UN (sing.)/GAUNIN (plural) comes from the word for “color” and refers to an “aspect, element, substance, essence”. )

Thus the Zohar understands the Sh’ma to mean that YHWH, Elohim and YHWH are three GA’UNIN.

The Zohar also calls these three GAUNIN the three pillars of the Godhead. The Zohar teaches that the two outer pillars are reconciled by the middle pillar just as the “tongue of decree” decides between the two pans of the scale in the Sefer Yetzirah. The Zohar reads as follows:


Concerning this, too, it is written: “Let there be light, and there was light” (Gen. I, 3). Why, it may be asked, was it necessary to repeat the word “light” in this verse? The answer is that the first “light” refers to the primordial light which is of the Right Hand, and is destined for the “end of days”; while the second “light” refers to the Left Hand, which issues from the Right. The next words, “And God saw the light that it was good” (Gen. 1, 4), refer to the pillar which, standing midway between them, unites both sides, and therefore when the unity of the three, right, left, and middle, was complete, “it was good”, since there could be no completion until the third had appeared to remove the strife between Right and Left, as it is written, “And Elohim separated between the light and between the darkness” (Ibid.).
(Zohar 2:167a)

This is the Middle Pillar: Ki Tob (that it was good) threw light above and below and on all other sides, in virtue of Tetragrammaton, the name which embraces all sides.
(Zohar 1:16b)

The First Century Jewish Writer Philo says similarly that the Word reconciles the two sides:

…the Divine Word (Logos)…fills all things and becomes a mediator and arbitrator for the two sides….from the Divine Word (Logos), as from a spring, there divide and break forth two powers. One is the creative through which the Artificer placed and ordered all things. This is named “God”. And the royal, since through it the Creator rules over created things. This is called “Lord” And from these two powers have grown the others. For by the side of the creative power there grows the propitious of which is named “beneficial” while (besides) the royal the legislative, of which is aptly named “punitive”. And below these and beside them is the ark.”
(Philo on Q&A on Exodus, II.68)

The Middle Pillar of the Godhead is the Son of Yah

According to the Zohar the Middle Pillar of the Godhead is the Son of Yah:

שכן קרוב מאח רחוק. דהיינו עמודא דאמצעיתא דאיהו בן יה,

Better is a neighbor that is near, than a brother far off.
This neighbor is the Middle Pillar in the Godhead,
which is the Son of Yah.
(Zohar 2:115)

The Zohar also says of the Son of YHWH:

The Holy One, blessed be He, has a son, whose glory (tifret)
shines from one end of the world to another. He is a great
and mighty tree, whose head reaches heaven, and whose roots
are set in the holy ground, and his name is “Mispar” and his
place is in the uppermost heaven… as it is written, “The heavens
declare (me-SaPRim) the glory (tifret) of God” (Ps. 19:1).
Were it not for this “Mispar” there would be neither hosts
nor offspring in any of the worlds.
(Zohar 2:105a)

This Zohar passage is intended to recall a passage from the Bahir:

Why are they called Sephirot?
Because it is written (Ps. 19:2),
“The heavens declare (me-SaPRim) the glory (tifret) of God.”
(Bahir 125)

The Zohar also says concerning the Son of Yah:

“We may also translate “he who withholds blessings
from the Son” (Prov. 11:26), whom the Father and Mother
have CROWNED and blessed with many blessings,
and concerning whom they commanded, “Kiss the SON
lest he be angry” (Ps. 2:12), since he is invested
with judgment (GEVURAH) and with mercy (CHESED)”
(Zohar 3:191b)

According to the Zohar, the Middle Pillar of the Godhead is not only known as the “Son of Yah” but also as “Metatron”:

Better is a neighbor that is near, than a brother far off.
This neighbor is the Middle Pillar in the godhead,
which is the Son of Yah.
(Zohar 2:115)

The Middle Pillar is also known as “Metatron”:

The Middle Pillar [of the godhead] is Metatron,
Who has accomplished peace above,
According to the glorious state there.
(Zohar 3:227)

(Last week we learned that it was “Metatron” which led Israel in the wilderness.)

So in today’s Torah reading, we see the Messiah as the Son of Yah, and as the Middle Pillar of the Godhead symbolized by the mercy seat between the two Cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, and as the central shaft of the Menorah.

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The last two years have been a real trial for us, and the last two months especially so. As you all probably know, our lives have never been the same since my wife returned home from a nearly two month hospitalization and septic shock in 2018.

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.

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Restoring Nazarene Judaism: Clues in the “Church Fathers”

In my last two blogs, I told you about how I came to believe in Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah of Judaism and how I was called to restore the ancient Jewish sect of the Nazarenes.

When I first became a believer in Messiah, I did not know what to do with myself. I was a square peg, trying to fit into a round hole. I continued to attend my conservative synagogue on Friday nights, while continuing to visit the church I had visited with Wendy (See My Testimony) on Sundays. It was not long before the pastor of the church approached me, and suggested that I might be happier in a “Messianic Jewish” congregation, giving me the contact for one in the area.

This was not much better, the Messianic Jewish congregation in question was led by a Jewish man who had found Yeshua thru Jews for Jesus, and then gone to a Southern Baptist seminary to become an ordained baptist minister. I recall one day I was in the car with him and he was driving past the “First Chinese Baptist Church” and told me that he has originally wanted to open the “First Jewish Baptist Church” before deciding to start a Messianic Jewish Congregation. At that time, his congregation met on Friday nights and Sunday mornings (years later it shifted to Saturday mornings). Needless to say, I was still out of place in this congregation.

That is when I began my research on the original Jewish followers of Yeshua as the Messiah. The Book of Acts tells us Paul was a “ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5) and so I began digging for primary sources on this ancient sect of Jews known as “Nazarenes.”

I discovered he fourth century “church father” Epiphanius, himself a Hebrew Christian, a detailed description of these “Nazarenes”:

But these sectarians… did not call themselves Christians–but “Nazarenes,” … However they are simply complete Jews. They use not only the New Testament but the Old Testament as well, as the Jews do… They have no different ideas, but confess everything exactly as the Law proclaims it and in the Jewish fashion– except for their belief in Messiah, if you please! For they acknowledge both the resurrection of the dead and the divine creation of all things, and declare that God is one, and that his son is Yeshua the Messiah. They are trained to a nicety in Hebrew. For among them the entire Law, the Prophets, and the… Writings… are read in Hebrew, as they surely are by the Jews. They are different from the Jews, and different from Christians, only in the following. They disagree with Jews because they have come to faith in Messiah; but since they are still fettered by the Law–circumcision, the Sabbath, and the rest– they are not in accord with Christians…. they are nothing but Jews…. They have the Goodnews according to Matthew in its entirety in Hebrew. For it is clear that they still preserve this, in the Hebrew alphabet, as it was originally written. (Epiphanius; Panarion 29)

I also discovered that the “church father” Jerome (4th Cent.) described these Nazarenes as those “…who accept Messiah in such a way that they do not cease to observe the old Law.” (Jerome; On. Is. 8:14).

And in one of his letters to Augustine I found that Jerome gives a more detailed description and makes an amazing admission concerning the Nazarenes:

“The matter in debate, therefore, or I should rather say your opinion regarding it, is summed up in this: that since the preaching of the gospel of Christ, the believing Jews do well in observing the precepts of the law, i.e. in offering sacrifices as Paul did, in circumcising their children, as Paul did in the case of Timothy, and keeping the Jewish Sabbath, as all the Jews have been accustomed to do. If this be true, we fall into the heresy… [of those who] though believing in Christ, were anathematized by the fathers for this one error, that they mixed up the ceremonies of the law with the gospel of Christ, and professed their faith in that which was new, without letting go what was old. …In our own day there exists a sect among the Jews throughout all the synagogues of the East, which is called the sect of the Minæans, and is even now condemned by the Pharisees. The adherents to this sect are known commonly as Nazarenes; they believe in Christ the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary; and they say that He who suffered under Pontius Pilate and rose again, is the same as the one in whom we believe. But while they desire to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither the one nor the other. I therefore beseech you, who think that you are called upon to heal my slight wound, which is no more, so to speak, than a prick or scratch from a needle, to devote your skill in the healing art to this grievous wound, which has been opened by a spear driven home with the impetus of a javelin. For there is surely no proportion between the culpability of him who exhibits the various opinions held by the fathers in a commentary on Scripture, and the guilt of him who reintroduces within the Church a most pestilential heresy. If, however, there is for us no alternative but to receive the Jews into the Church, along with the usages prescribed by their law; if, in short, it shall be declared lawful for them to continue in the Churches of Christ what they have been accustomed to practice in the synagogues of Satan, I will tell you my opinion of the matter: they will not become Christians, but they will make us Jews.
(Jerome; Letter 75)

“Minæans” appears to be a Latinized from Hebrew MINIM (singular is MIN) a word which in modern Hebrew means “apostates” but was originally an acronym for a Hebrew phrase meaning “Believers in Yeshua the Nazarene”.

Jerome’s description of the beliefs of the Nazarenes, seems to be a truncated version of the Creed of the Emissaries (for more on this point, including an old Hebrew text of this ancient Nazarene document, part of the fruits of this restoration of Nazarene Judaism, click here)

In his letter above, Jerome repeats Augustine, saying of the Nazarenes: “since the preaching of the gospel of Christ, the believing Jews do well in observing the precepts of the law, i.e. in offering sacrifices as Paul did, in circumcising their children, as Paul did in the case of Timothy, and keeping the Jewish Sabbath, as all the Jews have been accustomed to do.” (Jerome; Letter 75 Jerome to Augustine)

Jerome responds saying of the Nazarenes “though believing in Christ, they were anathematized by the [church] fathers for this one error, that they mixed up the ceremonies of the law with the gospel of Christ, and professed their faith in that which was new, without letting go what was old.”  (ibid)

In other words Augustine and Jerome tell us that the Nazarene doctrine that the Torah should still be observed began with “the preaching of Christ” and was the doctrine kept by Paul, but that the church “fathers” of Christianity declared this to be an error and a heresy.

Up until the time of Ignatius (in the late first century), matters of dispute that arose at Antioch were ultimately referred to the Jerusalem Council (as in Acts 14:26-15:2). Ignatius usurped the authority of the Jerusalem council, declaring himself as the local bishop as the ultimate authority over the assembly of which he was bishop, and likewise declaring the same as true of all other bishops and their local assemblies. Ignatius writes:

…being subject to your bishop…
…run together according to the will of God.
Jesus… is sent by the will of the Father;
As the bishops… are by the will of Jesus Christ.
(Eph. 1:9, 11)

…your bishop…I think you happy who are so joined to him,
as the church is to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is to the Father…
Let us take heed therefore, that we not set ourselves
against the bishop, that we may be subject to God….
We ought to look upon the bishop, even as we would
upon the Lord himself.
(Eph. 2:1-4)

…obey your bishop…
(Mag. 1:7)

Your bishop presiding in the place of God…
…be you united to your bishop…
(Mag. 2:5, 7)

…he… that does anything without the bishop…
is not pure in his conscience…
(Tral. 2:5)

…Do nothing without the bishop.
(Phil. 2:14)

See that you all follow your bishop,
As Jesus Christ, the Father…
(Smy. 3:1)

By exalting the power of the office of bishop (overseer) and demanding the absolute authority of the bishop over the assembly, Ignatius was actually making a power grab by thus taking absolute authority over the assembly at Antioch and encouraging other Gentile overseers to follow suite.

Moreover Ignatius drew men away from Torah and declared the Torah to have been abolished, not only at Antioch but at other Gentile assemblies to which he wrote:

Be not deceived with strange doctrines;
nor with old fables which are unprofitable.
For if we still continue to live according to the Jewish Law,
we do confess ourselves not to have received grace…
(Mag. 3:1)

But if any one shall preach the Jewish law unto you,
hearken not unto him…
(Phil. 2:6)

It is also Ignatius who first replaces the Seventh Day Sabbath with Sunday worship, writing:

“…no longer observing sabbaths, but keeping the Lord’s day
in which also our life is sprung up by him, and through
his death…”
(Magnesians 3:3)

Having seceded from the authority of Jerusalem, declared the Torah abolished and replacing the Sabbath with Sunday, Ignatius had created a new religion. Ignatius coins a new term, never before used, for this new religion which he calls “Christianity” and which he makes clear is new and district religion from Judaism. He writes:

…let us learn to live according to the rules of Christianity,
for whosoever is called by any other name
besides this, he is not of God….

It is absurd to name Jesus Christ, and to Judaize.
For the Christian religion did not embrace the Jewish.
But the Jewish the Christian…
(Mag. 3:8, 11)

By the end of the first century Ignatius of Antioch had declared  that the Nazarene doctrine that the Torah should still be observed which Augustine admitted began with “the preaching of Christ” and was the doctrine kept by Paul to be an error and a heresy.

He seceded from Judaism and founded a new religion which he called “Christianity”. A religion which rejected the Torah, and replaced the Seventh Day Sabbath with Sunday Worship.

Yeshua did not come to create a new religion, he came to be the Messiah of Judaism.  The original followers of Yeshua as the Messiah were a sect of Judaism called the sect of the Nazarenes (Acts 24:5)

Nazarene Judaism is not merely Messianic Judaism. One must understand the Christian origins of so-called Messianic Judaism as opposed to the restoration of Nazarene Judaism.

Nazarene Judaism is a serious effort to restore the ancient sect of Nazarene Judaism, the original followers of Yeshua as the Messiah.  By contrast so-called “Messianic Judaism” originated within Christianity as a Christian mission to bring Jews to “Jesus”.

The Christian origin of Messianic Judaism may be demonstrated by the fact that the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) changed its name in 1975.  The MJAA was originally called the Hebrew Christian Alliance of America (which had been its name for 60 years).  The MJAA was created in 1915 as a Christian mission to the Jews, in an effort to convert Jews to Christianity and reach Jews with “Jesus” (this was not the Torah observant Yeshua of Nazarene Judaism, but the Christian “Jesus” who came to “free you from the law”.)

In 1976 A seminar was held at Fuller Theological Seminar in Pasadena California on how to reach the Jews with Jesus.   Among the participants were David Stern.  One of the ideas that grew out of this Seminar was the establishment of “Messianic Jewish Synagogues” which would be established around the country in an effort to create a culturally palatable form of Christianity for Jews.

Under the auspices of the MJAA, the International Association of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues (IAMCS) was quickly created. And the UMJC (Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations and Synagogues) alter split off from the IAMCS.

The problem is that this quickly backfired on them.  Scattered among the Gentiles are untold numbers of descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel who are discovering their identity and their kinship to the Jewish people.  These Messianic Jewish synagogues were supposed to be filled with a huge influx of Jews wanting to learn about “Jesus” and instead they became flooded with Gentiles (or in many cases people form the Lost Tribes who had a Gentile identity) wanting to learn about Torah. Messianic Judaism quickly became like a box of Grape Nuts… there aren’t any Grapes, but an awful lot of nuts.

The problem was that this was all a Christian mission to the Jews, financed by major Christian denominations.  If a bank loans you money to start a new business, they are not going to be very happy if that new business turns out to be another bank across the street.  Now they were drawing Gentile Christians away from the very Gentile Christian Churches that were bank rolling the whole thing!

This led to One Faith Two Expression Theology and other key conflicts with the faith or the original Jewish followers of Yeshua.

There is so much more I plan to share with you in my next blog. There is so much more information about the ancient Nazarenes that I want to share with you in coming days. Suffice it to say, the ancient Jewish followers of Yeshua were not Christians, and they were not quite like today’s “Messianic Jews” which actually grew out of Christianity. The important thing to remember is that Yeshua did not come to create a new religion, but to be the Jewish Messiah of Judaism.

We Need Your Support!

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 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

My Calling and the Restoration of Judah

In my last blog, I gave my testimony as to how Elohim spoke to me as a young man and brought me to Messiah, and my calling to restore the ancient sect of Nazarene Judaism, the original Jewish followers of Yeshua as the Messiah. Today I want to tell you a little more about that calling.

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.

The ancient stone alter in ruins was Nazarene Judaism, and “rebuilding” it represented the work of restoration of the House of Judah.

A major prophetic event that the Scriptures state will occur before the return of Messiah, is just about ready to occur, in fact it is happening right now!

… but in the land of their captivities they shall remember themselves. And shall know that I am YHWH their Elohim: for I will give them a heart, and ears to hear: And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and think upon my name, And return from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, which sinned before YHWH. And I will bring them again into the land which I promised with an oath unto their fathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akov, and they shall be masters of it: and I will increase them, and they shall not be diminished. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them to be their Elohim, and they shall be my people: and I will no more drive my people of Israel out of the
land that I have given them.
(Barukh (Baruch) 2:30-35)

Up until recent times YHWH has been working toward the restoration of the House of Israel (Ephraim). This is typified in the parable of the olive tree, by the grafting of wild branches (Ephraimites) into the cultivated olive tree (Romans 11:16-19).

Now Romans 11 does discuss this stage of the restoration, but it also tells us that an even more powerful stage of the restoration involves Judah being grafted back into its own olive tree:

And if their stumbling became riches for the world, and their loss, riches to the Goyim: how much more therefore, their fullness?
(Rom. 11:12 NHRV)

For if their reprobation was reconciliation to the world, how much more therefore, their return, but life that is from among the dead?
(Rom. 11:15 NHRV)

23 And those, if they do not remain in their lack of trust, also will be grafted in: for Elohim is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you, who are from the olive [tree] that was wild by your nature, were cut off and were grafted–contrary to your nature–into the good olive [tree], how much more then, those, if they be grafted in their natural olive [tree]?
(Rom. 11:23-24 NHRV)

Paul says here: You think the restoration of Ephraim is great, wait until you see the restoration of Judah!

This restoration of Judah has been my calling, not just the grafting in of Ephraim (although that is part of it) but the restoration of the House of Judah, the restoration of the ancient sect of Nazarene Judaism!

I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Nazarene Judaism moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.

It is you who make this work possible. I realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone (in my quest to teach Torah and Messiah to a lost world with all the vigor and enthusiasm I can muster) 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 this efforts 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 in teaching the Torah and the Messiah to this lost world.

We Need Your Support!

The last two years have been a real trial for us, and the last few months especially so. As you all probably know, our lives have never been the same since my wife returned home from a nearly two month hospitalization and septic shock in 2018.

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!

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

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.
















My Testimony

At no other time since the first century, has so much enlightenment been upon us as we have obtained in just the last few years. Scripture tells us in many prophecies that in the last days Elohim will be removing the scales from people’s eyes so that they will see truths they could not see before. You and I have been called at this time to prepare the way for this onslaught of truth seekers who are abandoning Churchianity and even Rabbinic Judaism for the truth of Torah and a Messiah who is the living Torah. Now more than ever, people seem hungry for truth.

I recall when I was eighteen years old back around 1985, when I first left Rabbinic Judaism and became a believer in Yeshua as the Messiah. I was an armature anti-missionary back then, debating with my Christian friends, arguing that “Jesus” could not have been the Messiah. I had all the arguments down pat. Then one day Wendy asked me to go to an evening church youth meeting with her. I agreed, largely because I wanted to go out with her. So there I was, wearing my kippah with my JPS Tanak in hand. I did not know anyone else there.

After the meeting Wendy was off socializing with other friends, and I was sitting there bored. Despite my anti-missionary arguments, I had curiosity about Yeshua, so I prayed, “If Yeshua is really your son, prove it to me.” For the first time in my life a bat kol (voice from Heaven) spoke to me and said “John 1:34”. I did not have a “New Testament” so I borrowed one off the pew and looked up John 1:34 “And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.”. This revelation changed my life. I would have questioned it forever if the voice had answered my question with a direct answer, but instead it was a Scripture verse that I had to look up, that was an answer to my exact question. I knew for sure that Yeshua was Messiah and I found myself thrust into spiritual warfare that very first night, so I had to mature as a believer in Messiah fast. I immediately began studying the Messianic prophecies all over again, only now the scales were off of my eyes, and now I understood them. Of course Yeshua was the Messiah, why could I not see it before?

I began to read and study the so-called “New Testament” and to my surprise it had nothing to do with the things I associated with “Christianity”. It had nothing to do with steeples, nuns, monks, Santa Clause etc. It was a Jewish book.

In the months that followed I studied everything I could to help me understand this book as a Jewish book. I learned that the original followers of Yeshua were an ancient sect of Jews called “Nazarenes”. I found several references to these “Nazarenes” in the writings of the so-called “Church Fathers”. I realized that I was a Nazarene Jew. I learned that the books of the so-called “New Testament: were originally written, like the Tanak, in Hebrew and Aramaic. I even found original Hebrew and Aramaic source texts of the “New Testament”. I found that the books know as the “Apocrypha” are Jewish, not Catholic. I began publishing these truths and found they were resonating with many others, and a resurgence of Nazarene Judaism was born.

This teaching has always been in the Scriptures waiting to be discovered. We are living in a truly exciting age. Elohim is going to reward us with even more wisdom, knowledge and understanding concerning his plan for us as believers, as well as for the people of this world. We have been called not only to understand who we are (Nazarenes), where we are going, but we are also chosen to realize the responsibilities that Elohim has placed on us. We are His people and YHWH wishes all of us to have a partnership in bring both Torah and Messiah to the world. We are doing our part (and I believe Elohim is pleased with our efforts—yours and mine). Let us keep up the good work, and Elohim, I truly believe will reward us abundantly.

Again I want to thank you all for your continued support. We depend totally on you for financial support for this profound work.

We are facing a financial shortfall and we would appreciate any help you can give us at this time.

I am grateful to all of you who support our work financially. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

We Need Your Support! We must still raise $400 by the end of the day Monday or our account will go into the negative!

The last two years have been a real trial for us, and the last few months especially so. As you all probably know, our lives have never been the same since my wife returned home from a nearly two month hospitalization and septic shock in 2018.

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!

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

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