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 Romans 8:14  For as many as are led by the Set Apart Spirit (Ruach Ha Qodesh) of Aloahiym, these are sons (and daughters) of Aloahiym.

Ministry of Aloahiym
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Website – Ministry of Aloahiym Message for Home Page

This ministry has no name or identity apart from that of Aloahiym.  That which is of Aloahiym . . .  belongs to Aloahiym.  We strive to regulate our lives only as the Ruach Ha Qodesh of YAHUWAH directs us, moving into the “oneness” prayed for by the Yahushua the Messiah [John 17:21-23].       

Our walk in the Ruach is a testimony of the validity of:

Romans 8:14  For as many as are led by the Set Apart Spirit (Heb:  Ruach Ha Qodesh) of Aloahiym, these are sons (and daughters) of Aloahiym.

Jer 29:11-14 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith YAHUWAH, thoughts of peace (shalom), and not of evil, to give you an expected end.   Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.   And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.   And I will be found of you, saith YAHUWAH Aloahiym: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith YAHUWAH; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Heb 11:6   But without fa-th (Heb:  emunah = belief with absolute unadulterated certainty) it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to Aloahiym must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Heb 11:1   Now Emunah (fa-th) is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Isaiah 53:1  Who hath believed our report? And to whom has the arm of YAHUWAH Aloahiym been revealed?

John 5:44  How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from YAHUWAH Aloahiym only?

Gen 1:27  So Aloahiym (written in ancient Hebrew as אלהים ) created man in his own image, in the image of Aloahiym created he him; male and female created He them.

Gen 2:7  And YAHUWAH Aloahiym formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Heb: Ruach Ha Qodesh); and man became a living soul.

John 6:63  It is the spirit (Ruach Ha Qodesh) that quickeneth (gives and sustains life) ; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit (Ruach), and they are life (Heb: pronounced  “hai”).

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Yahushua Ha Maschiach (Messiah), who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Ruach Ha Qodesh).

Rom 8:6-8  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Heb:  shalom).   Because the carnal mind is enmity against YAHUWAH: for it is not subject to the law of YAHUWAH, neither indeed can be.   So then they that are in the flesh cannot please Aloahiym.  

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit (Ruach Ha Qodesh), and the Spirit (Ruach Ha Qodesh) against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit (Ruach), let us also walk in the Spirit (Ruach).

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto YAHUWAH, and to his throne.

Rev 1:8  “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Tau’, Beginning and the Covenant without End,” says Yahushua Ha Mashiach   יהושע Messiah, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

May all who visit this website . . . experience and retain the shalom, love,

esteem and honor, shakan and kabod of Aloahiym, that is our Creator Father,

YAHUWAH, and His Son, the living resurrected Messiah Yahushua,  

and the Ruach Ha Qodesh (Set Apart Spirit)

And receive a personal and tangible revelation of Who He is and What He is

in your lives, and may you continually be baruched for all of eternity.

 

Rev 1:3  Baruch (Ble-sed) is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy (Book of Revelation), and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 19:10  . . . I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Yahushua: worship Aloahiym: for the testimony of Yahushua is the spirit (Ruach Ha Qodesh = Truth) of prophecy (Heb: Nebuah).

 

. . . Eyd and Yahn EL Stephenson

For PDF Composite Summary of Ministry with Personal Backgrounds, please click the link below:

2-2-2014 PDF – Composite Summary of Ministry with Personal Backgrounds (1)

 

 

Clear Cut Proof Why Barley is Not the Parameter for the start of the Year

By Don Esposito

 

click link here for PDF reading Clear Cut Proof Why Barley is Not the Parameter for the start of the Year (1)

I have lived in Israel for the last almost 15 years or so, and have studied the Biblical calendar for

almost 20 years. I would like to show quite conclusively that Barley in Israel was never the

biblical mandate to start the New Year.

First of all there is nothing in the bible about starting the year based on the barley harvest. This

was too arbitrary and how would Noah have known when barley was seen in Israel on the ark or

any biblical person for that matter before Israel entered the Promised Land in 1443 B.C.? Also,

barley grows quite different from place to place and even in Egypt where Israel came out from

the barley harvest there is in late January or early February depending on the year and weather.

Clearly the sun, moon and stars were given to calculate the biblical calendar.

Gen 1:14

And Elohim said, Let light sources be in the expanse of the heavens, to divide

between the day and the night.

 And let them be for signs and for (Holy day) seasons, and

for days and years.

Also, clearly, the Holy Days of Yahweh had to be kept in their season and not at any time of the

year as each Holy Day depended on the harvest of its particular season associated with it.

Exo 13:10

And you shall keep this ordinance at its appointed time (in its season), from year to year.

Exo 12:2

This month (Aviv) shall be the head of months for you. It shall be the first of the

months of the year for you.

So, the question is not whether to add a 13th month but when to add the 13th month. Since

Exodus 12:2 clearly states that Aviv 1 and not simply Passover is the dividing line between the

old year and the New Year, it would not be correct to start the New Year 10 or 11 days into Aviv,

to simply have the Passover fall in the New Year, but have the other 10 days in the old year.

Also, according to the biblical reckoning you cannot have Sukkot start before the autumn equinox.

Exo 34:22

And you shall observe a Feast of Weeks for yourself, the first-fruits of the harvest of  wheat; also the Feast of Ingathering

 after the turn of the year.

The Hebrew word for turning of the year is “Tekufah” and is the word used for equinox for a

revolution of the sun. If you start your year before the spring equinox you will not have your Holy

Days fall after the autumn equinox. Also, every Holy Day needs the harvest fruits for whichever

feast celebration is being done. In the spring you need the new grain for the wave sheaf offering

on the feast of firstfruits, and in the fall you need the 7 harvest fruits for the Sukkot celebration. If

you start your year too early in the winter while the old year is still going on many years you will

not have ripe harvest grain or fruits in the spring or fall. In the year 2013 the Jewish feast of

Sukkot started September 19th, but the turning of the year (tekufah, equinox) is not until September 22nd; clearly proving the Jewish calendar in 2013 was incorrect. Even look at the

following quote from the Rabbis own writings in the Talmud stating that if Sukkot fell before the

autumn equinox than a 13 month must be added to avoid this.

Should the Tekufah of Tammuz extend till after the Succoth Festival, or the Tekufah of Tebeth

till the sixteenth of Nisan, the year would be intercalated,

so that the festivals might fall in

their due seasons, viz., Passover in Spring, Succoth in Autumn (after the equinox

.

(Sanh 11b)

The reason to wait until after the tekufah (equinox) or turning of the year for Sukkot is quite

simple; not only does the fall harvest have to be ripe before Sukkot, but it has to be harvested

as this is the main reason of the feast. That reason being to take the harvest fruits of the dates,

and the pomegranates, and the figs, and the wine and the olives. That is why it is called the

feast of “

ingathering”. It is inconceivable that Israelites would have went to Jerusalem for Sukkot

empty handed, as it would be about a month trip turnaround from the time leaving until

returning, while their harvest fruits would have ripened and fell and rotted while they were away.

If one biblically waits until after the tekufah (equinox) to start the year, then they will always have

Sukkot after the autumn tekufah and the fruits will be ripened and harvested.

Calculating Aviv only by Barley is not scriptural and has actually turned out to be a major scam

by some elements hoodwinking brethren for control and money. I have checked for barley

almost every year here from Israel and except for it taking a day of my time and gasoline, there

are no other costs involved. However, some of these so-called barley hooligans have websites

up with paypal links collecting much money for this so-called barley hunt.

The problem with only using barley to try to calculate the month of Aviv is that it makes the

calendar dependent on man’s assessment, which is at times flawed and at times outright

deceitful. As I mentioned, the barley in Israel does not ripen at the same time throughout the

country and is actually a two month harvest starting around the beginning of April until late May

or early June.

The people who come here to try to pervert the New Year according to their own agenda will

either ignore barley in some years as 2014 if they don’t want to call Aviv yet, or they will try to

create a perception of over ripe barley that isn’t there.

I have said before that if barley and the firstfruit omer on the feast of firstfruits is a direct

reflection of Yahshua as the firstfruit born of the dead to Yahweh, then it stands to reason that

there would have to be representation of barley throughout Israel and the harvest would have to

be more than 50 to 60% harvestable by the feast of firstfruits.

Last year there was minimal (probably only about 10%) barley available by the Jewish incorrect

feast of firstfruits, and yet the barley hunters claimed it was Aviv. This year is like last year and

there is a small early harvest and small minimal Aviv barley just like last year and probably even

a little more, and yet the barley hunters did NOT claim it was Aviv.

So what was the difference from last year to this year? The difference is that if they called the

New Moon that just happened the month of Aviv, not only would they have their year start in

winter of the old year before the equinox, but they would also have their Passover commence

before the equinox and have 2 Passovers in the same year, clearly against scripture.

So they simply claim there is no barley to avoid this problem. This clearly shows why Yahweh

would never leave His sacred Holy Day calendar to be dependent on a few rogue barley hunters

in Israel that have no authority from him or His ordained elderhood.

By living here for the last some-odd 15 years I can attest that the barley hunters on several

occasions have not been honest about the barley harvest. It doesn’t matter that they send a few

pictures as I mentioned the harvest happens over 2 months throughout the land, so if they want

to call Aviv, they will sent pictures in the area that there may be barley, and if they don’t want to

call Aviv yet, they will simply go to areas that haven’t turned Aviv yet.

Yahweh would never have such a confusing way to start His sacred Biblical calendar. He clearly

stated in Gen 1:14- that

the moon, and sun and stars are for calculating days, and months

and years.

It says nothing about barley.

Barley as well as other harvest fruits are simply an earthly sign to the heavenly calendar, but

they do not signify the start of the year, the biblical tekufah, or in English, the equinox, does

according to scripture. For full information on the start of the biblical year and timing please read

our book called “The Biblical calendar” on-line at www.coyhwh.com .

 

Passover and the Calendar

By  Brick Parrish

 

http://www.emetyahshua.com/uploads/Passover_and_the_Calendar.pdf

One of the most divisive issues facing most Messianic and Hebrew Roots
believers is the controversy over the calendar. Which calendar do you use to
observe the biblical Feasts of YHWH? When does the New Year begin and when
is the New moon?
I have spent considerable time studying these issues and often find myself in
disagreement with many of my close brethren and most Messianic believers as to
the timing of Passover, beginning of the month and the New Year.
Most Messianic believers look to unbelievers for guidance in regards to the
calendar. They look to the Karaites, who do not believe in Yahshua, to find a
handful of barley around Jerusalem to signal the start of the New Year. Then they
look for the closest New Moon, regardless of whether if falls before or after the
Vernal Equinox. Beginning the year before the vernal equinox can lead to the
Feasts being out of their seasons. About 3 years ago I received some pictures
from Jerusalem showing unripe fruit on many fruit trees during the time most
Jews and Messianic believers were celebrating Sukkot. Sukkot is a harvest festival
in which the harvest is supposed to be reaped so that you can then enjoy the
fruits of your labor during the Feast. The green fruit still remaining on the trees
proved that they had begun the New Year a month too early.
On another occasion, before I began to look into the calendar issue, I found that
we had observed 2 Passovers in the same year. Even the Jews make sure that
doesn’t happen.
So where do we start? Let’s begin with scripture to tell us what determines the
days, years and seasons.
Gen 1:14 And Elohim said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide
the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days,
and years:
If you go by the barley and the sighted sliver of the moon to determine the New
Year, what roll does the sun play in it? Where is barley mentioned above? I
maintain that the barley has nothing to do with when the New Year begins.
The New Year only begins in the month in which the barley ripens, that’s all. The
word “Abiv” means “ripening, completing development” according to the
Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew. The first crop to be harvested was
flax in March and April, then barley and wheat in April and May (The Lion Ency.
of the Bible p.221). This shows various stages of Abiv (grain crops ripening)
lasting over a period of 2-3 months.
1Also, when the commandment was given, that this time was the beginning of
months and the first month of the year to Israel, they were in Egypt which has a
ripening season of up to two months earlier than in Israel. Was Israel to use the
presence of ripe barley in Egypt to begin the New Year? Obviously not! YHWH
knew He would lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land where the
harvest was later than in Egypt. He was just stating a principle to them that the
New Year would begin during the time of the year when grain ripened. But it does
not specifically say barley. Only because Barley ripened first, was it used for the
wave sheaf offering of the first fruits of their harvest.
We are also told that Israel observed at least one Passover one year after they had
left Egypt (Num 9:5). Did Moses carry around a little cart of barley in order to
know when it was Abiv and when to start the New Year? No, Moses was educated
in the house of Pharaoh and would have been well acquainted with how to
determine the equinoxes and the solstices. The equinoxes occur when the sun
passes over the equatorial plane. The two solstices occur when the sun reaches its
position farthest from the equator. Each solstice lies halfway between the two
equinoxes. Some will argue that the word for equinox or solstice does not exist in
the bible, but there is a word that is used which means a turning or a revolution.
That word is Tekufah and its root (naqaf) means a circle or cycle. This word is
found 4 times in scripture and pertains to the calendar all of those times. The
tekufot (pl) mark the seasons of the year.
The Hebrew word for year comes from the idea of change or repeated action.
Thus the year expresses the concept of “a complete cycle of change” (Nelson’s
Illustrated Bible Dictionary p. 200)
Herb Solinsky in his article “The Hail Plague and the First Biblical Month
states” The moon determines the months, but not which month is the first. Only
the sun remains to be considered. The only repeatable time points involving the
sun are the two equinoxes and the two solstices. Considering that the barley and
wheat in Yisrael are harvested in the spring, the vernal equinox is the only
logical candidate to consider that involves the lights in the heavens on the direct
basis on Gen 1:14.”
The four intermediate cycles (equinoxes and solstices) determine the seasons of
the year.
Exo 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest,
and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.
Here the word ‘end’ is the word tekufah. The phrase “At years end” are the words
“tekufat Ha shanah,” which indicates a revolution in time. This can only refer to
the “equinox”. This ‘turning cycle’ would be autumnal equinox which marks the
end of the summer and the beginning of fall.
Frank Nelte expresses it this way:
2Jewish encyclopaedias, the Talmud and many other Jewish reference works will freely
acknowledge that this word “tekufah” has exactly TWO meanings. Firstly, it refers to
the only FOUR “TURNING DAYS” in the solar year that can be predicted in advance,
the two equinoxes and the two solstices. Secondly, it refers to THE FOUR SEASONS
which start on those four “turning days”. It has no other meanings, and certainly not
the meaning “end”.
He goes on to say:
It is well-known that in Exodus 34:22 the expression “tekufat ha-shanah” is a specific
reference to the autumn equinox (on September 23), and therefore this Scripture makes
quite clear that the Feast of Tabernacles can NEVER start before the autumn
equinox.(F. Nelte)
The Feast of tabernacles is a fall Feast and must never start in the summer just as
the New Year must never start in the winter of the old year before the vernal or
spring equinox.
The other 3 scriptures that use the word “tekufah” are:
1Sa 1:20 Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had
conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have
asked him of YHWH.
The words translated ‘was come” is tekufah. This could also be translated
“Wherefore it came to pass when the day had come around, after Hannah had
conceived…”
Young translated it this way:
And it cometh to pass, at the revolution of the days, that Hannah conceiveth, and
beareth a son, and calleth his name Samuel, `for, from Jehovah I have asked him.’
Here again we are presented with the idea of a revolution (cycle) of days or
seasons. The next verse that contains the word “tekufah” is:
2Ch 24:23 And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up
against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes
of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of
Damascus.
Kings would go out to wage war in the spring of the year according to 2 Sam 11:1,
so this is likely after the vernal equinox or the beginning of spring.
The last reference to tekufah is found in Psalms 19:6.
Psa 19:6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends
of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The word tekufah here is translated as “circuit” and the language implies that it is
talking about the sun by referring to nothing being hidden from its heat. This
would be the suns passage through the equinoxes and solstices to make a yearly
circuit.
I think I have presented sufficient evidence that the word “tekufah” means the 4
turning points of the year, the equinoxes and solstices. Most Messianic believers
would agree with this, but the real problem is that they have no problem
beginning the New Year while still in the old one. Most follow the Karaites barley
3hunt and when found, use the closest New Moon to the vernal equinox to begin
the New Year. Many times they select the New Moon before the equinox which
causes them to begin the year in the old one. Common logic dictates that this is
wrong.
Another problem with the Karaite barley hunt is that it is only for barley around
the Jordan valley. There is up to a month’s difference between the barley harvest
in the highlands and the lowlands of Israel. Scripture is clear that each man is to
bring in the first fruits of his harvest to the priest at the temple to be waved
before YHWH.
Lev. 23:10 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, When you come in
to the land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest, and have
brought in the sheaf, of the beginning of your harvest, to the priest,
Lev. 23:11 and (then) he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah for your acceptance;
on the morrow of the sabbath the priest shall wave it (Greens literal translation).
Notice, when you have reaped the harvest, THEN you bring a sheaf of the first
fruits. You don’t scour the country side looking for a handful of ripe barley. Each
of the sons of Israel had to bring in a sheaf (omer) of his harvest. The barley has
to be ripe all over the land, not just around Jerusalem. The reply given by the
Karaites to this problem is that they are offering the omer of first fruits of the
harvest for all of Israel. This shows a lack of understanding the scriptures from a
Messianic perspective. Don Esposito explains it this way:
Each person had to cut his own sheaf, as each one of us need to have the wave sheaf (a
type of Messiah’s sacrifice for our sins) accepted by Yahweh, and the people could not
bring the offering themselves, only the priest (type of Yahshua) could bring the
sacrifice on behalf of the people and then wave the sheaf up to heaven. The wave sheaf
could not be issued on behalf of one or two fields, or even one area, of only one tribe,
because Yahshua is the wave-sheaf of “all 12 tribes of Israel”.
Also, since the wave sheaf represented Yahshua as the first-fruit of those born from the
dead, then, it would have to be completely mature, as Yahshua was not an immature or
imperfect sacrifice (Esposito).
Another problem with the finding of a handful of Jerusalem barley is that if the
year is started based upon barley being ripe in the Jordan valley, the time when
the wave sheaf offering is to be presented might be before the harvest in the
highlands. The highlanders would be forbidden, according to scripture, to eat of
their harvest.
The solution to this problem is to do away with the barley hunt altogether; there
is nothing in scripture that instructs us to start the New Year in this way. If the
New Year is always started on the first New Moon AFTER the equinox, the barley
will always be ripe when needed in all areas. Those harvesting first would store
their omer of first fruits and continue to eat their old grain until the offering
could be made. No one is going to starve because they can’t eat the new grain
until it is harvested all over. They simply continue to eat the stored grain of the
previous year as they were doing up until this time.
4Conjunction vs Sighted Sliver of the Moon.
Here is another area of controversy. When the Jews were in Babylon, they
adopted many of the practices of the Babylonians including the lunar-solar
calendar, naming their months after pagan gods, and their method of sighting the
first sliver of the moon to determine the New Moon.
Chart used by permission of http://www.moonconnection.com/
The above chart should help one to visualize what occurs during a New Moon. It
is YHWH’s reset button for the New Month. It occurs in a moment of time when
the sun, moon and earth are in a straight line, with the moon being between the
earth and sun. The New Moon will be invisible to the inhabitants of the earth at
this time. No where in scripture are we told to “sight” the New Moon.
You can readily see that the New Moon is the direct opposite of a Full Moon.
There are two Full Moon Feasts, the first day of Unleavened Bread and the first
day of Sukkot. If the New Moon is determined by the first sighted sliver of the
5waxing moon, these two full moon Feasts will never occur on a Full Moon, but
will always be slightly off.
The Hebrew word for “moon” (yerach) is used only 4 times in the Law or Torah of
Moses. The first occurrence is in Gen. 37:9 where Joseph had a dream in which
the sun represented his father, the moon represented his mother and the stars
were his brothers.
The next two times we find this word in the Torah of Moses is where we’re told
not to worship it.
Deu 4:19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun,
and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to
worship them, and serve them, which YHWH thy Elohim hath divided unto all
nations under the whole heaven.
Deu 17:3 And hath gone and served other elohim, and worshipped them, either the sun,
or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
The last occurrence is in Deut. 33:14, which is dealing with a blessing of Joseph
by Moses. The only reference to the moon in the Torah is the warning against
worshiping it.
The word that was translated “month/monthly” 221 times in scripture is the
word חדש “Chodesh” Strong’s # 2320. Another 20 times it was translated “New
Moon”. Strong’s concordance gives the meaning of this word as “new moon,
month, monthly.” However, he also gives the exact word another number #2318”
and gives the meaning as “to be new, renew or repair”. Clearly, this is Mr.
Strong’s personally biased interpretation as the two Hebrew words are identical.
This is why most people think the meaning of Chodesh is “New”. A look at the
“Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew” by Clark gives the primary
definition of the word “chodesh/Chadash” as to “renew”. You don’t have a brand
new moon each month, but a renewal of the old one. This renewal begins at the
time when the moon is dark to our view. When the crescent is sighted, the
renewed, or we’ll continue to use the terminology most are familiar with, the New
moon is already from 16 to 42 hours old. This doesn’t seem to be the precision
with which YHWH operates. Common sense in the absence of any scripture to
the contrary will tell you that a 16 to 42 hour old crescent moon is not the New
Moon. And as I mentioned above, all the Feast dates will be off by at least a day.
Rav Samuel Thompson in his article “When is Rosh Chodesh” demonstrates that
there is a perfectly good Hebrew word that does mean “crescent” that was not
used anywhere to refer to determining the New Moon. That word is “saharon”.
This word is used to describe crescent shaped ornaments in Isa. 3:18; and Jdg
8:21, 26. The Hebrew word “yarech saharon” was not used at all to describe the
New Moon.
Is there evidence in scripture that Israel did not use a sighted crescent after the
conjunction to determine the New moon? Yes, there is. How did David know that
the following day was to be a New Moon?
61Sa 20:5 And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I
should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in
the field unto the third day at even.
And
1Sa 20:18 Then Jonathan said to David, To morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt
be missed, because thy seat will be empty.
How did David and Jonathan know that the next day was to be the New Moon?
They simply could have observed the last sliver of the waning moon and knew the
following day there would be no visible moon at all and hence, the New moon.
There is evidence that ancient Israel did not use a lunar-solar calendar at all, but
we will leave that for another time. It is certain that there were two calendars in
use at the time of Yahshua. A calculated lunar-solar calendar was used primarily
by rabbinic Judaism and a solar calendar was commonly used by others. The
discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls gives us the information that the Essenes
Community at Qumran used a solar calendar as did the Sadducees, the priestly
authority of the day, and the Jews at Masada.
The Encyclopedia of Religion And Ethics records that even into the 9th Century
C.E. remaining Zaddikim observed Solar months of 30 days, similar to this
Egyptian Solar Calendar. The Zaddikim (called the Sadducees in the English
Bible) were a sect formed of Priests, merchants, and aristocrats. Their name
derives from Zadok, the high priest in the days of King David.
The Qumran community began the month when the new moon was invisible
(conjunction).
According to The Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol 5 C-DH: “The present Jewish
calendar (Hillel II – 358-59 AD) is lunarsolar, the months being reckoned
according to the moon and the years according to the sun. A month is the period
of time between one conjunction of the moon with the sun and the next
conjunction. The conjunction of the moon with the sun is the point in time at
which the moon is directly between the earth and the sun (but not on the same
plane) and is thus invisible.
In the Book of Jubilees, we find a prophecy and warning that addresses the
observing of the moon.
Jub. 6:34 And there will be those who will make observations of the moon, for
this one (the moon) corrupts the stated times and comes out earlier each year
by ten days.
Jub 6:35 And in this way they will corrupt the years and will observe a wrong
day as the day of testimony and a corrupted festival day, and everyone will mix
holy days with unclean ones and unclean with holy; for they will err as to
months and Sabbaths and festivals and jubilees.
New Testament evidence shows us that Yahshua observed Passover a full day
before the Pharisees did. He was operating on the solar calendar that was also
used at Qumran. It is also a fact that Hillel the Elder re-instituted the conjunction
to start the month in 10 B.C. right before Yahshua’s birth.
7 Don Esposito points out that in 30 A.D., the conjunction occurred on the vernal
equinox. And Passover occurred on a Wednesday 14 days later. Yahshua was
crucified on a Wednesday afternoon and rose from the dead at the end of the
Sabbath, exactly 3 days and 3 nights later. The closest you could get to a
Wednesday crucifixion by sighting a “crescent” was in 34 A.D., but that is only
provided you could see it 10 hours after the conjunction, which is almost
impossible.
Some try to prove that Yahshua did not eat a Passover meal with his disciples by
trying to resolve the discrepancies in the New Testament. Let’s examine those:
Mat 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to
Yahushua , saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the
passover?
Mat 26:18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Rabbi
saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.
Mat 26:19 And the disciples did as Yahushua had appointed them; and they
made ready the passover.
This is a mistranslation as we see in the Aramaic. The Aramaic has “Now the first
day of unleavened bread drew near.” The word “protos”, that is translated in almost
every translation as “first” can also be translated more correctly here as “prior or before”.
It would correctly read “Now prior to the Feast of Unleavened Bread…” The word “day” is
not in the Greek text.
This next verse in Mark’s gospel is also in error.
Mar 14:12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his
disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest
eat the passover?
The Passover lamb is never killed on the first day of Unleavened Bread. Again,
this should read “And prior to the Feast of Unleavened Bread….”
Mar 14:14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The
Rabbi saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my
disciples?
Mar 14:18 And as they sat and did eat, Yahushua said, Verily I say unto you, One
of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
Clearly, Yahshua did observe the Passover. Some try to use the following
scripture to indicate that Yahshua didn’t really eat the Passover, but just said he
desired to.
Luk 22:13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made
ready the passover.
Luk 22:14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with
him.
Luk 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover
with you before I suffer:
Luk 22:16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in
the kingdom of YHWH.
Luk 22:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it
among yourselves:
8Luk 22:18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the
kingdom of YHWH shall come.
Luk 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them,
saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament
in my blood, which is shed for you.
Only someone with an agenda to prove that the Rabbinic Passover is on the
correct day would try to read into this something that is not there. They even say
this wasn’t really a Passover that Yahshua observed, but a graduation ceremony
for his disciples. I wouldn’t have personally been able to come up with a more
stupid answer.
The reality is that Yahshua did observe Passover with his disciples on the correct
day or he would be in violation of Torah. He plainly said it was a Passover he was
eating with his disciples as per the portions I have underlined and bolded in the
scriptures above. If he didn’t eat the Passover as he said, then he lied about it.
Others, ignoring the accounts in the other 3 gospels, argue that the account in
John shows that Yahshua did not have a Passover with his disciples, but a plain
reading of the text in John 13 shows this to be in error for the following reasons.
Passover is not called a “Feast”. John is referring to the Feast of Unleavened
Bread which the Jews had been calling Passover since the Babylonian captivity.
Yahshua was crucified the following day. The Jews had not yet observed their
Passover on the first day of Unleavened Bread. Yahshua was taken down from
the cross before sundown which began the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a high
Sabbath. Passover is the 14th
of Abiv and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the
15th. Yahshua kept Passover on the correct date; the Jews did not.
When is the Correct Day for Passover?
The Pharisees and Sadducees had a dispute as to the time when the
slaughtering of the lamb should take place. The FORMER held it should be in
the last 3 hours before sunset (and therefore at the end of the 14
th day), the
LATTER, between sunset and nightfall (and therefore AT THE BEGINNING of
the 14
th day!) – Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.
Apparently, Yahshua agreed with the Sadducees and the solar calendar. He
observed Passover on Abiv 14 whereas the Jews observed theirs in the month of
Nissan during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yahshua did have a dispute with
the Pharisees over their oral traditions. He said they had made the law of none
effect with their oral traditions. He told us to beware of the Leaven of the
Pharisees which was their false doctrine. Yet, today many blindly follow
unbelieving Jews in their observance of Passover.
To determine the correct date for Passover, let’s go to the original Passover
account. The lamb was taken from the flock on the 10th
of Abiv and kept 4 days
while each family inspected their lamb to make sure it was free of blemishes.
9Exo 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
The Hebrew word translated “evening” is Ha Arbayim, which means “between the
evenings”. This is what is disputed by the Rabbinic (Pharisee) Jews and the
Sadducees as described in the paragraph from the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia
above. It is obvious that Yahshua agreed with the Sadducees and also the
Samaritans as he conducted his Passover at the beginning of the 14th
of Abiv
whereas as the Jews did theirs at the end of it.
The Book of Jubilees also seems to agree when it says “ And it is not permissible
to slay it during any period of the light, but during the period bordering on the
evening, and let them eat it at the time of the evening, until the third part of the
night, and whatever is left over of all its flesh from the third part of the night
and onwards, let them burn it with fire.” (Jubilees 49:12)
The Targum of Onkelos also rendered “between the evenings” in Exo. 12:6 as
“between the two suns” and explained this was the time between sunset and the
coming out of the stars.
Let’s continue with the original account.
Exo 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the
upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
Exo 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened
bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Exo 12:9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head
with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
Exo 12:10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that
which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
We see that the blood was put on the door posts of the houses that night. They
were to eat the Passover lamb that night and any that remained until morning
shall be burned with fire. Also see Exo 34:25.
Exo 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the elohim of
Egypt I will execute judgment: I am YHWH.
Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and
when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to
destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
We are told that the death angel would pass through the land and kill the first
born of every household that did not have the blood on the door posts. Now
notice what the next verse said’ “When I see the blood, I WILL PASS OVER you.
Do you suppose that this act is where the term “Passover” comes from? Clearly, it
was on the 14
th of Abiv that this took place and the only night time portion of the
14th
was at the beginning of it. Passover is on the 14
th of Abiv, not the 15th. (Lev
23:5; Num 9:5; 28:16).
Israel was also cautioned to stay indoors all night and only go out in the morning
to burn the remainder of the Passover lamb.
Exo 12:22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the
bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the
1bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the
morning.
So if they couldn’t even go out of their houses until morning, how could they
leave that same night? The truth is they didn’t. We are told when they left in the
following scripture:
Num 33:3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of
the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went
out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
The Hebrew word translated “morrow” is the word “mochorath” which means
“the next day or the day after”. They left on the 15th of Abiv, the day after Passover
which was on the 14th
.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread is clearly the day AFTER Passover.
Exo 12:17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame
day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe
this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
Exo 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat
unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
The word translated “evening” here is B’ereb which is correctly translated. It is
not “between the evenings” as we saw earlier. This simply means to observe the
Feast of Unleavened Bread beginning at sundown on the 14
th of Abiv, which is the
beginning of the 15th. Remember, the Hebrew day begins at sundown and ends at
sundown of the following day. You begin eating Unleavened Bread on the 15th and
eat it until the evening of the 21
st
, a period of 7 days.
This “selfsame” day is the 15th of Abiv, not the Passover on the 14th
.
Another thing to consider too is the logistics of moving such a large number of
people. Obviously, Moses rehearsed the plan with them before hand. There were
about 3 to 4 million of them scattered out all over Goshen. It would have been
sometime after midnight on the 14th
that Pharaoh became aware of the deaths of
the first born of Egypt, including his own firstborn. He had to send a chariot for
Moses about 10 miles away, bring him to Pharaoh and then take him back again.
It would likely have been around dawn when Moses was returned. They most
likely blew the shofar with a pre-arranged signal to move out. They then had to
round up their herds and flocks, take down their tents, pack up their belongings,
borrow from the Egyptians, who would have given them anything to get rid of
them, and then they had to walk to the meeting place at Rameses. There is no way
that the Passover could have occurred on the night of the 15th
as the Jews allege.
This flatly contradicts scripture. Besides, scripture tells us the came out at noon.
Exo 12:17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this “b’eZTeM
haYom haZeH” (selfsame day) have I brought your armies out of the land of
Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for
ever.
“Selfsame day” literally translates as “bone or essence of the day” which would be
the middle of the day or at noon. However, Deut 16:1 says it was at night that
YHWH brought them out of Egypt. I think with such a large number of people,
1they began leaving Egypt at night (15th) and continuing on into the following
daytime portion of the 15th.
There has been a lot of tampering with scripture which makes it hard to unravel
all these traditions. It was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) in 1947
that allowed us to see where some of the changes to scripture were made by the
Masoretic scribes. Many of the changes were made in an attempt to obliterate any
possible reference that would point to Yahshua as the promised Messiah.
Thankfully, we have two witnesses that show us some of the alterations in the
Masoretic text, the DSS and the Septuagint.
There are other scriptures that I believe have been forged, but will not address
these at this time even though they do have a bearing on the timing of the
Passover, which contradicts other scripture. Analyze carefully Deut 16:1-7. These
verses are actually referring to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, not Passover.
Remember, the Jews while in Babylon began calling the combined 8 day
observance of Passover and Unleavened bread, by the term Passover. You see that
reflected in the confusion over Passover in the Brit Chadashah.
The correct determination of the date for Passover is to start the Abiv 1 count on
the first new moon after the vernal equinox and then count 14 days from that
point. Passover will be at the beginning of the 14th
of Abiv rather than at its end as
observed by the Pharisees, the Karaites and most Messianic believers. The barley
will be ripe when needed for the wave sheaf offering as per historical evidence.
The first day of Unleavened Bread will be on a full moon as will the first day of
Sukkot. Otherwise, they will not.
Herd Mentality Thinking
It is hard for us to break out of the common mold in our thinking if we hear
something often enough. We had been taught all our lives that Sunday was the
Sabbath and never questioned it. We celebrated Easter and Xmas without ever
questioning that either. And when these sacred cows were challenged, we bowed
up and got stubborn. It was only when solid evidence was shown to us that these
were false that we began to break out of the common mold. This is the same
problem we’re having today. Just because the majority believes something does
not make it true.
This is the same problem we have with the calendar and the timing of Passover.
The herd mentality is in full operation in this calendar controversy. Most simply
observe Passover when the Karaites tell them to. And on some occasions, they are
a month off. The ancient Israelites did not use the sighted sliver of the moon
prior to going into the Babylonian captivity. They may have used the ancient
Egyptian solar calendar of 30 days each month with 5 supplementary days added
at the end of the year. Or the months may have corresponded to the Mazzaroth
(Zodiac). There are 12 signs of the Zodiac and there are 360 degrees in a circle.
Each 30 degrees roughly corresponds to each of the 12 signs of the Zodiac. If the
1month began each time the earth entered a new sign of the Mazzaroth, you would
have months of varying lengths of 29 to 31 days each. The ancients would know
what month they were in by simply looking up at the stars at night. Why use a
lunar-solar calendar each month and then correct it by adding a 13
th month to get
it to agree with the solar calendar? Why not just use the solar calendar instead?
I have decided to use a bit of logic along with the scriptures in determining these
calendar issues. If things don’t make sense, it is usually because they are wrong.
One thing is sure, the Passover did not occur on Abiv 15th, the first day of the
Feast of Unleavened Bread….. Else what was Passover on the 14th
for?
Brick Parrish

 

Name Above Every Name  : Knowing and Using The Creator’s Sacred Name   Written by Bruce Paul
Full Details of the subject can be found from this website: http://name-above-every-name.com/

Purpose / Focus

The purpose of this study is to equip YAH’s people with a spiritual weapon the enemy has robbed from us. Paul says in 2Corinthians 10:4 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine  

We as a church long for the days of Elijah—where we could call on the name of the Most-High YAH and see fire come down from heaven to vanquish the spiritual forces of darkness. There is a storm coming and YAH’s people need to walk in His favor, as expressed in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Favor, not in terms defined by prosperity theology, where YAH is just a vending machine, indulging our over-inflated egos at our every whim. Yet, neither are we called to be subjugated by the spirit of despair, simply because we don’t know how to fight a spiritual war with the spiritual weapons YAH has given us.

 

As we venerate and call on His name, we bring Esteem and Honor to our Creator Father, and His kingdom moves all around us. Malachi 4:2–3 says:

“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says YHWH Almighty.”

 

New Testament Hebrew Primacy

 Written by Bruce Paul

 

Based on the title of this section, you can see where we’re going. Why is it important to establish whether the New Testament Scriptures were originally written in Hebrew, rather than Aramaic, or Greek, in the light of this discussion of The Creator’s sacred name? There are several important reasons but the single most significant reason can be summed up in the one word: context. The gospel was not an orphaned message, birthed in an inconsequential tradition or without a historical framework. The gospel message is eternally; inseparably tied to covenants (unbreakable promises) Yahuah gave to Abraham and the people of Israel.

In approaching the subject of  our Creator Father’s sacred name, it’s important to spell out the fact that we’re not coming out of a pantheistic (many gods) Ancient Greek context where one could simply place an idol of Yahushah on a mantle as just another god they might esteem. This assimilation of other belief systems into one’s own existing world-view is called syncretism, and the Roman Catholic Church has been incorporating pagan rituals and deities into Christian doctrine for seventeen-hundred years. It is out of this syncretistic mind-set, not the Hebrew monotheistic mind-set that makes one believe they can call the Father or Son whatever they want.

For the most part, it appears the church has lost all discernment regarding these pagan traditions and virtues that we have assimilated into Christian tradition throughout history. Rather than searching out our roots, irrational convictions cause many to defend today’s sacred cows like the King James Bible. As if MashiYah died and gave birth to the church in 1611, and this antiquated four-hundred-year-old English translation is the only inspired version of the Scriptures on planet earth. Great mistakes have been made even by esteemed theological giants like John Calvin, who went so far in contending for the traditional practice of infant baptism; he actually had Anabaptists who disagreed with him murdered.

It has taken the church so very long, but we are now starting to come out of Babylon. As the body of MashiYah, we need to call out to Yahushah and ask for the spirit of a Berean to search the Scriptures and discern between tradition and truth. As we begin unfolding this short apologetic on the Hebrew primacy of the New Testament Scriptures, it is inevitable that some will never be convinced regardless of how much evidence is mustered. However, if you’ve made it thus far through this “less than light” study on the sacred name of The Creator, it’s likely this message is resonating in your spirit. My prayer that the following information will be more than just a series of facts, but a catalyst to draw you closer, not so much to the Hebrew language, but to the Elohim of Abraham who does not lie; to the Elohim of Jacob who keeps His promises and has not forgotten the covenant He made to His treasured possession, the people of Israel.

The Dead Sea Scrolls prove Hebrew was a Living Language

In one translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the author state:

“Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the dominant view of the Semitic languages of Palestine in this period was essentially as follows: Hebrew had died; it was no longer learned at mother´s knee. It was known only by the educated classes through study, as educated medieval Europeans knew Latin. Rabbinic Hebrew…was considered a sort of scholarly invention…artificial, not the language of life put to the page. The spoken language of the Jews had in fact become Aramaic . . . ” 25

“The discovery of the scrolls swept these linguistic notions into the trash bin . . . the vast majority of the scrolls were Hebrew texts. Hebrew was manifestly the principal literary language for the Jews of this period. The new discoveries underlined the still living , breathing, even supple character of that language . . . proving that late Second-Temple Jews used various dialects of Hebrew . . .” 26

Discovered by a young Bedouin shepherd in the Qumran caves near the north/west corner of the Dead Sea in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls are the single greatest biblical archeological find in History. It has taken decades to sort through the fourty-thousand fragments of rolls and six-hundred partial manuscripts. What the researchers involved in the Dead Sea Scroll Project have discovered is: this body of literature not only encompasses biblical writings, but also records the daily activities of the community at Qumran. The reality that common tasks were being recorded in Hebrew at a time concurrent with Yahushah’s life on earth, together with the fact that ninety percent of these Dead Sea Scrolls were recorded in Ancient Hebrew, proves that Hebrew was a living language when the New Testament was recorded.

Other Historical Evidence for Hebrew Primacy

Together with the Dead Sea Scrolls there are several significant discoveries made by Yigael Yadin, one of Israel’s most famous archeologists, which continue establishing the fact that Hebrew was a living language during the time when the New Testament was written. In 1960, Yadin discovered the Cave of Letters at Nahal Hever, which contained fifteen letters to and from Simon bar Kokhba, the Jewish general of the AD 135 bar Kokhba revolt: ten of these letters were written in Hebrew, three in Aramaic and two in Greek. One of the Hebrew letters that bar Kokhba wrote himself contains a colloquialism or an abbreviated rendering that can only ever be attributed to a living language. The existence of these letters strongly support Hebrew as the predominant language of the Jews a hundred years after Yahushah ascended into heaven.

Yigael Yadin also explored Masada, King Herod`s Dead Sea stronghold from 1963 to 1965. Yadin found fourteen scroll fragments, more than four-thousand coins, and over seven-hundred inscribed pottery fragments. The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin were all represented in these finds, but like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ratio of Hebrew to these other languages is nine to one, and every coin minted in Israel that was found at this site was inscribed in Ancient Hebrew.

These archeology discoveries are corroborated by Josephus, the famous Jewish historian of the first-century who testified that Hebrew was the language of the first-century and most Jews did not know Greek:

“I have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the leanings of the Greeks, and understanding the elements of the Greek language although I have so long accustomed myself to speak my own language, that I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness: for our nation does not encourage those that learn the languages of many nations.”  27

Linguistic Evidence for Hebrew Primacy

There are other internal evidences within the Greek text that testify to the Hebrew origin of the New Testament. The Greek text is full of what are called Hebraisms that don’t make sense in Greek, but flow with a poetic style known to Hebrew. Similarly, there are other literary devices like parallelisms that are commonly used by Hebrew writers for poetic purposes. There are also numerous mistranslated words from the Hebrew into Greek, where the Greek rendering doesn’t quite fit, but the Hebrew equivalent works perfectly. In his Companion Bible, E. W. Bullinger states, “While the language is Greek, the thoughts and idioms are Hebrew.” (Appendix 94)

This subject has a technical, academic facet that extends beyond the scope of this study, but you can freely pull up a shorter primer on the subject by Michael D. Marlowe called, The Semitic Style of the New Testament. Here, Marlowe reviews the most common Semitisms found in the New Testament, such as: the order of words, missing conjunctions, coordination of clauses, redundant pronouns, substitutes for the indefinite pronouns, redundant use of prepositions, the use of the positive adjective for a comparative or superlative, contrast in extreme terms, adjectival substitutes, future indicative used as an imperative, verb and cognate noun expressing emphasis, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Difficulties / Variations within the Greek New Testament

Out of about 5,700 Greek New Testament manuscripts we have in existence today, there are so many variations between these texts that some early church leaders openly criticized the neglect in which these Scriptures were being transcribed:

“The differences among the manuscripts have become great, either through the negligence of some copyists or through the perverse audacity of others: they either neglect to check over what they have transcribed, or, in the process of checking, they make additions or deletions as they please.” 

(Origen, Commentary on Matthew 15:14)

 

 “When my fellow-christians invited me to write letters to them I did so. These the devil’s apostles have filled with tares, taking away some things and adding others. For them the woe is reserved. Small wonder then if some have dared to tamper even with the word of the lord himself, when they have conspired to mutilate my own humble efforts.” (Dionysius)

Bart D. Ehrman suggests in his book, “Misquoting Jesus” that heretical and/or pagan antagonists intentionally made changes in these sacred texts to subvert the church. This may be possible, but a much more likely explanation for many of the variations was that less than competent scribes were translating the Scriptures from Hebrew into Greek and rendered poor interpretations.

New Testament references confirming Hebrew Primacy

The following New Testament passages are a list of the more obvious references affirming that Hebrew, and not Aramaic or Greek, was the language of the Jewish people at the time the New Testament was recorded:

Matthew 5:18– “For, truly I say to you, till that the heaven and the earth may pass away, not one jot (yoot) or one tittle (the little “crown” on top of the yoot) may not pass away from the law, till that all may come to pass.” Both of these terms, jot and tittle, refer to the Hebrew alphabet and not the Aramaic or Greek alphabets. 

 

Mark 14:36– “And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things be possible to thee, bear over from me this cup; but not that I will, but that your will be done.’” Abba is an endearing Hebrew word for father “daddy” that has been left in the text.

 

Luke 23:38– “And there was also a superscription written over him, in letters of Greek, and Roman, and Hebrew, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’” If the language of Israel at this time was Aramaic, why is Aramaic not found on this list?

 

John 5:2– “And there is in Jerusalem by the sheep-gate a pool that is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches.” Why would John bother informing his audience what the Hebrew name of this pool was if Hebrew was not the language of the Jews?

 

John 19:13, 17-20 – “ Pilate, therefore, having heard this word, brought Jesus without — and he sat down upon the tribunal — to a place called, `Pavement,’ and in Hebrew, Gabbatha . . . and bearing his cross, he went forth to the place called Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha; where they crucified him, and with him two others, on this side, and on that side, and Yahushah in the midst. And Pilate also wrote a title, and put it on the cross, and it was written, `Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews;’ this title, therefore, read many of the Jews, because the place was nigh to the city where Jesus was crucified, and it was having been written in Hebrew, in Greek, in Roman Latin.” Hebrew, Hebrew, Hebrew!

 

Acts 21:37– “As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, ‘May I say something to you?’ And he said, ‘Do you know Greek?’ he replied.” The commander is shocked that Paul, a Jew, spoke Greek. 

 

Acts 21:40– “When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect.” When Paul goes to address the crowd, he speaks to them in . . . Hebrew.

 

Acts 22:2– “Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.” And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet.” In all the commotion with Roman soldiers pushing and controlling the crowd, Paul speaks to the crowd in Hebrew, and everyone goes silent. 

 

Acts 26:12-14– “While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” What language does our glorified Savior Yahushah address Paul in? In Hebrew of course!

Final Comments on Hebrew Primacy

Taking all the historic and biblical evidence into consideration, it is clear that Hebrew and not Greek nor Aramaic was the language of Yahushah’s time. Because we know that most of Yahushah’s disciples, other than Paul and Luke, were not educated (Acts 4:13), it simply isn’t reasonable to believe that these simple Galilean disciples could have recorded the Scriptures in any language other than their own Hebrew tongue. Together with the overwhelming quantity of linguistic evidence that points to a Semitic origin for all of the New Testament Scriptures, the truth of this evidence will eventually build momentum within the scholarly community. Yet, such a fundamental shift in our understanding of the New Testament is taking some time for scholarly communities to accept.

Whole books are being devoted to the subject of the language primacy of the New Testament, so I’m hardly expecting to make a vital contribution here. But, so little of this information has made its way into the broader church community that it’s essential to examine the topic, as it establishes a foundation by which we can confidently affirm the use of the Father and the Son’s sacred Hebrew names in the New Testament. The New Testament authors didn’t just decide one day to abandon fifteen-hundred years of Scriptural tradition and change the language by which all Scripture had been recorded or contemplate changing the sacred name of God. They would not! They could not, under any imagined circumstances, possibly conceive of making such a change.

Since almost every copy of the Hebrew New Testament is either hidden somewhere in a secret Vatican vault, or was destroyed by the Roman Catholic Church, we need to look to another resource to examine how the Father and the Son’s names were originally used in the New Testament.

The Hebrew Gospel of Matthew

 Written by Bruce Paul

without question is that the gospel of Matthew was originally recorded in Hebrew. There is overwhelming evidence on record from a number of early church fathers, whose combined statements categorically affirm Matthew’s Hebrew authorship:

  • Papias of Hierapolis, a disciple of the Apostle John, wrote: “Matthew collected the oracles (or sayings about Yahshua) in the Hebrew language.”(Eusebius, H.E. 3.39.16)

  • Saint Irenæus stated: “Matthew published among the Hebrews a Gospel in their own language.” (Irenaeus; Against Heresies 3:1.1)

  • Eusebius referenced Origen as saying: “As having learnt by tradition concerning the four Gospels, which alone are unquestionable in the Church of God under heaven, that first was written according to Matthew, who was once a tax collector but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, who published it for those who from Judaism came to believe, composed as it was in the Hebrew language.” (Eusebius, H.E. 6.25.4)

  • Epiphanius wrote: “They (the Nazarenes) have the Gospel according to Matthew quite complete in Hebrew, for this Gospel is certainly still preserved among them as it was first written, in Hebrew letters.” (Epiphanius; Panarion 29:9:4)

  • Saint Jerome frequently affirmed Matthew’s Hebrew origin and used Matthew’s Hebrew text to solve difficulties of interpretation (Ad Damasum, xx; Ad Hedib., iv):

  • “Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetimes publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered. I have also had the opportunity of having the volume described to me by the Nazarenes of Beroea, a city of Syria, who use it.” (On Illustrious Men, Chapter 3)

  • Other early church leaders include: Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Epiphanius, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Augustine, and many of the commentators of the Middle Ages repeatedly affirmed that Matthew wrote his gospel in Hebrew.

Fascinating isn’t it! The very idea that this Hebrew version of Matthew would have the Father and the Son’s names, clear as day, recorded throughout its text. Wouldn’t it be great to find a copy of this Hebrew gospel and dispel all this confusion as to what we should call the Father and the Son? Can you believe it, after over one-thousand years of the Roman Catholic Church’s anti-Semitic attacks, burning and destroying every Hebrew document they could find; there is still at least one Hebrew language copy of Matthew’s gospel.

In the late 1300’s, the Jewish community in the Iberian Peninsula was under enormous pressure to convert to Catholicism through widespread massacres such as the Castle to the Crown of Aragon program in the summer of 1391, or from legislation that severely restricted the religious liberties of the Jews. As a result, Spanish Jews experienced mass conversions of whole communities. The Spanish Inquisition traveled from town to town throughout Spain, debating the truth of their gospel with Jewish rabbis. If the rabbi insulted the Catholic Church or lost the disputation, the town would have to convert or leave Spain. If the rabbi won the debate, only he would have to leave the country.

One of these debates pitted Shem Tov ben Isaac ben Shaprut against Cardinal Pedro de Luna on the topic of “original sin and redemption” in Pamplona, Spain, on December 26, 1375. Shem Tov won his debate in front of numerous bishops and Catholic theologians. He later used this experience to write a polemical treatise called “The Touchstone,” showing other Jews how to answer Christian scholars in these community debates. He contended that if the Spanish community of rabbis were to win these debates, they had to know the Christian Scriptures, so he included a Hebrew language version of the gospel of Matthew in the twelfth volume of the Touchstone treatise. The question is where did Shem Tov get this Hebrew version of Matthew? Did he or another Jewish scholars translate it from the Greek or Latin biblical texts, or had it been copied from the original Hebrew gospel of Matthew?

Most Christian scholars had believed Shem Tov’s Matthew copy was simply translated from the Greek text for the purposes of adding it to his polemic work, until George Howard released his book entitled, Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. Howard’s approach to this Hebrew gospel of Matthew is conservative, but opens the door to the possibility that it may actually represent the original Hebrew Matthew text:

“Shem-Tob’s Hebrew Matthew is the most unusual text of the First Gospel extant. It contains a plethora of readings, which are not to be found in any of the Christian codices of the Greek Gospel. Its unusual nature may be explained by the fact that it underwent a different process of transmission than the Greek, since Jews preserved it, independent from the Christian community.

A textual profile of Shem-Tob’s Matthew reveals that it sporadically agrees with early witnesses, both Christian and non-Christian. Sometimes it agrees with readings and documents that vanished in antiquity only to reappear in recent times. The profile thus suggests that a Shem-Tob type text of Matthew was known in the early Christian centuries.” 23

Since Howard’s book, more copies of the Shem Tov Matthew Gospel have been located in Russia that appear to be less tampered with “revision designed to make it conform more closely to the standard Greek and Latin texts of the Gospel during the Middle Ages.” Nehemia Gordon, a Jewish-Karaite Hebrew scholar and assistant on the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication project, reviewed one of these Russian Shem Tov manuscripts and is convinced that it represents an authentic copy of the original book of Matthew.

For an explanation of the specific proofs Nehemia Gordon applied to the text to demonstrate that Shem Tov’s Matthew was not translated from Greek or Latin but was derived from the original Hebrew, see Nehemia Gordon’s book, The Hebrew Yeshua v.s. the Greek Jesus. Other evidences that Shem Tov’s Matthew is truly ancient, but are not reviewed in Nehemia Gordon’s book includes: the fidelity found in the genealogy list in the Hebrew Matthew compared to the Greek Matthew, and variants found in Shem Tov’s Matthew that match quotes of early Christian bishops and church leaders.

Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew is far from perfect, having been preserved by a Jewish community that didn’t view its contents as sacred Scripture. Yet the majority of the text bares distinctive marks of its authentic composition.

One final piece of evidence that both affirms the authenticity of Shem Tov’s Matthew and more importantly . . . gets us back on track in identifying what the Father and Son’s names should be recorded as in the New Testament, is the references in Shem Tov’s Matthew to God’s sacred name. The following sixteen verses in Shem Tov’s Matthew simply contain the Hebrew letter Hey as a marker to identify the name of God (1:22, 1:24, 2:13, 2:19, 3:3, 4:7, 4:10, 21:9, 21:12, 21:42, 22:31, 22:32, 22:37, 22:44, 27:9). This letter Hey is commonly used by Jewish scribes as a short form of the Hebrew word HaShem, meaning “The Name,” a rabbinic replacement word for God’s sacred name:

“No Jew of the Middle Ages, especially a scribe, would ever willfully insert the Tetragramaton into a text simply because all pious traditional Jews would substitute or mask the Name by abiding under the rabbinical ban of NEVER writing or pronouncing it. The very fact that the first letter hey for HaShem appears proves that Shem Tov wrote HaShem wherever he found YHVH. The fact that he didn’t use Adonai or Kurios proves that HaShem was used everywhere the 19 times Yahuwah’s Name was recorded by Matthew himself! HaShem was only a substitution for Yahuwah NEVER for Adonai or Kurios which would have been left intact!

The MashiYah and the disciples used only the true Name Yahuwah when referring to Elohiym. Terms such as Kurios, Adonai and Theos do not appear in Matthew’s Shem Tov, for if they did Shem Tov would gladly have copied them intact. The vary fact that Shem Tov HAD TO SUBSTITUTE HASHEM into an existing document, PROVES THAT WHAT WAS THERE ORIGINALLY WAS THE DIVINE NAME WHICH SHEM TOV indicates by his INSERTED usage of the letter hey for HaShem.” 24

How marvelous! The thought that we have solid evidence that God’s sacred name Yahuah continued to be used seamlessly from the Old Testament through to the New Testament. Most of these references for Yahuah mentioned above are easily transportable between the Hebrew and English, which is to say, the context makes it clear that they are in reference to Yahushah or God the Father. There are, however, four references worthy of note as they add significant light to the text’s meaning and this message of God’s sacred name. The final reference in verse 28:9, however, is very special as it gives us fresh insight into how the Son used His Father’s name:In Matthew 3:3 and 21:9—quotes taken from the Old Testament, the English translators used the term Lord, it’s difficult knowing within Matthew’s text whether the verse is referring to God the Father or God the Son. One could find the original references in the Old Testament, and use a lexicon to see that the verse identifies Yahuah, the Father, but the Father’s name is right here in the original Hebrew text of Matthew.

The Greek Matthew verse 21:12 says, “And Yahushah entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.” But the Hebrew Matthew verse 21:12 says, “And Yahushah entered the house of Yahuah.” This wasn’t simply the temple of the Jews; this was the House of Yahuah.

And the Greek Matthew verse 28:9 says, “And behold, Yahushah met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” But the Hebrew Matthew verse 28:9 says, “And behold, Yahushah met them, ‘May The Name deliver you’. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” Yahushah suddenly appears to the two Mary’s as they were running back from His tomb to tell the disciples He had resurrected from the dead. He meets these precious friends with the salutation, “May The Name (HaShem) deliver you,” as though it was His customary greeting. All of the other references simply use the Hebrew letter Hey to represent YAH’s sacred name. In this reference, we see HaShem written out, suggesting that the words “The Name” were actually in the text.

 

ABSTRACT – NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME     Written by Bruce Paul

Few topics can be more contentious than using YAH’s sacred name. Yet, scripture resounds with assurance of blessing or the certainty of judgment for those who remember or abandon using His true name. Was the utterance of  YAH’s celebration name (Exodus 3:15) lost, or was it intentionally obscured? Is it just another name, or does YAH’s sacred covenant name actually hold a key to vanquish the spiritual forces of darkness (Revelation 19)?

Chapter 1 -The Creator’s Name Obscured

Written by Bruce Paul

The Creator’s Name Shrouded in AmbiguityThe quandary starts with the Jewish people, who are the custodians of the Hebrew  language, and who by and large have contended for several millennia that we should not, or cannot, speak YAH’s sacred name. Jews from Talmudic tradition have actually forbidden their own people from speaking the sacred name. They refer to The Creator’s sacred name as the unspeakable Tetragrammaton, a Greek term identifying a four letter word. To these Jews, the true name of the Creator is so sacred, some go so far as to declare that anyone who attempts to pronounce this name would not have a part in the world to come.
Are Jews forbidden to speak The Creator’s name?Do an Internet search and pose a question like: “Why don’t Jews speak The Creator’s name?” and you’ll uncover the major traditional arguments, such as:
Many Jews believe that The Creator’s name was too holy to use in daily conversation.
The Creator’s sacred name would have only been used by priests in the Jerusalem Temple, so since there is no Temple, His true name cannot be used.
The sacred name of The Creator has power and using His true name is exercising a power we have no right to use frivolously.However, the most common argument used to explain why most Jews will not speak out The Creator’s sacred covenant name is that the correct pronunciation of His name has been lost. Devout Jews are concerned that they might mistakenly violate the third commandment, which states in Deuteronomy 5:11 “You shall not take the name of (YHWH), your ELOHIM in vain, for (YHWH) will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.These all seem to be reasonable points, and to be sure, we certainly don’t ever want to take Elohim’s name in vain. Do these arguments actually line up with the truth of Scripture and what we know of how The Creator’s sacred name was used by the Israelites historically? As a matter of fact, the arguments don’t even line up with the rabbinic Jews’ own Talmudic tradition.In his book, The Kuzari, Judah Halevi proved that speaking The Creator’s sacred name was a common practice of Jews in the past. Both Judah Halevi and the famous Jewish scholar Maimonides after him, pointed to several sources in the Talmud that demonstrated the frequent use of the sacred name in ancient Israel:

  • In Qiddushin 71a of the Talmud, it is recorded that this sacred name was passed on from rabbis to their sons.

  • In Yoma 39b of the Talmud, it is stated that the pronunciation of Elohim’s name was widely used before the priesthood of Simon the Just.

Simon the Just was a Jewish high priest who lived during the time of the Second Temple, sometime around 310–273 BC. This period presents an interesting correlation that can shed some light as to why and when it was that YAH’s covenant people stopped speaking His name.
Greek Subjugation of IsraelThe Jews had recently returned from the Babylonian exile in 538 BC, only to be conquered by the Greeks. When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, his generals divided up his empire. Ptolemy I, who ruled the African region of this Greek kingdom from Alexandria, Egypt, seized control of Judea in 322 BC, and from this point forward, Greek satraps controlled Israel for hundreds of years. Through this time, Judea would be effectively Hellenized. Prominent upper class Jews even built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, had their citizens compete in Greek games, and abandoned the covenant of circumcision. Under the Seleucids satrap Antiochus Epiphanes, the encroachment of Greek culture into Jewish life became a legal obligation. It’s hard to know why Antiochus Epiphanes was so obsessed with totally Hellenizing the Jews, but he burned every copy of the Torah (Old Testament) he could find, and made the possession of any Jewish Scriptures a capital offense. He banned most Jewish customs, including: Temple sacrifice, Sabbath observance, commemorating the feasts, and circumcision.
The final insult came in 164 BC, when Antiochus Epiphanes placed a statue of Zeus in the Second Jerusalem Temple and had swine sacrificed to the idol. The Jews revolted under the leadership of Judas Maccabee, who led an army of Jewish dissidents to victory over the Seleucid dynasty that same year by deploying guerrilla warfare tactics. The Jews never completely reclaimed political independence from outside rule, but successfully preserved their religious autonomy until the Romans destroyed the Second Jerusalem Temple in AD 70.In relation to how the Jews stopped speaking YAH’s name, it’s important to point out that one of the principle outcomes of this successful rebellion against the Seleucid Empire was that John Hyrcanus, the nephew of Judas Maccabee, established a new priestly monarchy in 152 BC called the Hasmonean dynasty. This dynasty would favor Pharisaic tradition to the point where Pharisees ended up dominating the ruling council of the Temple, the Sanhedrin, at the time of Jesus’ ministry. As a consequence, Pharisaic tradition and their Oral Law would become the prominent theological institution of the Jewish people in Israel.There isn’t a historical reference to denote any evidence of Pharisaic tradition before the Hasmonean dynasty. However, once the Romans sacked Jerusalem, and destroyed the Temple, Pharisaic beliefs became the basis for rabbinic Judaism. Jews no longer had the ability to fulfill the requirements of Torah’s sacrificial regulations, so the esoteric interpretations of Torah in what rabbinic Judaism ascribe as their Oral Law dominated Jewish belief. It was considered to be their only recourse in retaining their Jewish distinctiveness without the temple.
YAH’s Name in the SeptuagintConcurrent to all of the conflict the Jews experienced with totalitarian Greek and then Roman rule, and beginning sometime around 300 BC, a number of Hebrew scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, started translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Koine Greek. We know this translation work as the Greek Septuagint. It started with the translation of the first five books of the Torah, but continued through the years until it incorporated all the books of the Hebrew Bible. These Greek translations initially rendered the sacred name of YAHd in the Paleo-Hebrew letters, Yud, Hey, Waw, Hey. However, later versions of the Septuagint in the Christian era, transliterated YAH’s sacred name into Greek characters and replaced it with the term Lord.
When the Jews stopped speaking YAH’s Name There are countless mystical elements of rabbinic Judaism’s Oral Law, which are often attributed to the Jews exposure to mystic cults they encountered during their Babylonian captivity. However, among the most cryptic ideas found within this oral law, nothing is so remotely arcane and shrouded in mystery as YAH’s sacred name.An example of the curious treatment Pharisaic Rabbis placed on the divine name can be found within some of the debates recorded between the Pharisees and Sadducees in the Jewish Mishnah. In Yadayim 4:8, the Pharisees say:“We complain against you, Galilean Sadducee, for you write the name of the ruler with the name of YAH on the same page. And furthermore, you write the name of the ruler above the name of YAH.”Rabbinic Judaism continued to add layers of esoteric principles to using YAH’s name, which are clearly evidenced by Kabalistic representations of the divine name, which are encoded with images of pyramids, pentagrams, and depictions of the Babylonian pantheon.The historical context for why and how the sacred name of YAH became veiled, is starting to come together. But before we put this all together, let’s try to nail down a time frame in which we know for certain the Jews openly called on YAHs name.We find all of Israel calling on the sacred name of YAH during the time of Moses, as we read in Exodus 14:10, “As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to YHWH.” The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who recorded the events surrounding the destruction of the Second Temple, records that “when Romans attacked the Temple, the Jews called upon the fear-inspiring name of YAH “ (The Jewish War V:438).”From the time of the Exodus, to the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, the Hebrew people knew how to speak YAH’s sacred name, and as we will soon discover, used His name frequently. Having established this time frame, we are now able to advance the following three principle reasons why YAH’s sacred name was at first suppressed and then completely obscured from both Jewish and Christian communities:

  • First—A new religious order, known in Jesus’ time as the Pharisees, viewed using YAH’s sacred name in a very legalistic way and they became the predominant Jewish sect after the destruction of the Temple in AD70. Application of their regulations regarding YAH’s name made it too complicated for ordinary people to employ YAH’s name in everyday life. Later, rabbinic Oral Law followed these Pharisaic regulations, adding layers of tradition, as well as Babylonian mysticism that altogether shrouded the phonetic utterance of YAH’s holy name in secrecy, and concealed His name from the Jewish people for over a thousand years.

  • Second—The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek Septuagint exposed what Jews considered to be sacred, to Gentile Greeks who had a long history of subjugating the Jews and threatening their way of life. So when Christians started taking the sacred name of YAH, which was recorded in the Septuagint in Paleo-Hebrew, and transcribing these Hebrew letters into Greek characters, they unwittingly untied an essential legacy of the Christian church from its Jewish roots. First-century Jews, who might have considered Christians as another Jewish sect, now regarded them as just another Gentile cult, as the church’s connection to the Hebrew language and the name of YAH was broken. More importantly, Christians would no longer have a point of reference to correctly understand how all the references Jesus and other New Testament writers made to “the name,” actually referred to this very sacred covenant name of YAH.

  • Third—The following third point will be discussed in more detail later; but as soon as the church era began, colluding forces within the church worked together to obscure YAH’s name. Christian scholars began viewing Rabbinic Judaism’s beliefs and symbolism surrounding YAH’s sacred name with suspicion. Subsequently, as an anti-Semitic attitude set in as dogma within the Roman Catholic Church, Christian leaders seemed intent to only identify the pagan elements that Rabbinic Jews had artificially embedded into YAH’s sacred Name. As incredible as it may seem to those who have studied Christian history and realize how much paganism was absorbed into the early church, Christian leaders accused the Jews of pagan worship and associated YAH’s sacred name with worshiping the Roman god Jupiter.

YAH intended for His name to be known and yet we find these two powerful forces of the church and rabbinic Judaism conspiring to redefine His name into a secretive unspeakable enchantment known only to a shrinking number of rabbinic Jews. Since much of the confusion surrounding the pronouncement of YAH’s name was created through rabbinic teaching, we should start by testing the soundness of their regulations that effectively silenced speaking God’s name, in the light of Scripture.
Rabbinic Tradition Contradicts God’s Purpose for His NameMany would admit it does seem odd to think that YAH would disclose His sacred covenant name to Moses, record this name over six-thousand eight-hundred times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, and then find a Jewish sect attempting to repress using this name. Yet, when judged against the clear, intended meaning of the Jews’ own Scriptures, it’s a simple matter to demonstrate how rabbinic traditions absolutely contradict YAH’s clearly stated purposes in how His name is to be used:

  • YAH’s intention is to make His name known among the nations:

In a message YAH instructs Moses to give to Pharaoh, we find in Exodus 9:16 “But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim MY NAME through all the earth.”
And later, YAH reaffirms to Moses that His intention is to make all of Egypt know His sacred name in Exodus 14:4 and 14:18.

  • In a message YAH gives at the end of the Old Testament, YAH declares in Malachi 1:11, “For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says YHWH of hosts.”

We find Gentiles and Gentile kings speaking YAH’s sacred name, in fulfillment of YAH’s declaration that His name would be known among the nations: We find Pharaoh, king of Egypt speaking YAH’s sacred name in Exodus 5:2, 8:8, 8:28, 9:27, 10:11, 10:16, and 10:24. And Pharaoh’s servants speaking YAH’s sacred name in Exodus 10:7. The Gentile prophet Balaam, son of Beor, who was asked by Balak, king of Moab to curse the Israelites, uses YAH’s sacred name in Numbers 22:8, 13, 18, 23:26. The Gentile prostitute Rahab of Jericho uses YAH’s sacred name in Joshua 2:9. The Moabite Ruth uses YAH’s sacred name in Ruth 1:17. Cyrus king of Persia uses YAH’s sacred name in Ezra 1:2–3.

  • This is YAH’s memorial-name—When YAH told Moses at the burning bush, “This is My name forever, and this is MY memorial-name to all generations,” the term defined here by the word memorial is zêker in Hebrew, and is identified in Strong’s Dictionary as #2143. Translating zêker into this word memorial is unfortunate at several levels. Within our English vernacular, the term memorial conjures images of a solemn funeral service, or the sixty seconds of silence we offer our fallen troops on Memorial Day. But zêker engenders a very different thought:

The primitive Hebrew root for zêker is zâkar (Strong’s #2142), which not only conveys the idea of bringing something to mind, but extends a more active connection to what is being remembered. It suggests we cause or provoke each other to recollection, and even audibly proclaim the cherished thought to which we would remind ourselves. In our culture, zêker would identify our experience of singing our national anthem after our country wins a medal at the Olympics.In constructing this concept of remembrance, the primitive Hebrew root zâkar extends the thought of something being permanently carved or marked in us. This submits a fascinating tie to later Scripture describing how the Father’s name will be written on every saint’s forehead (Revelation 14:1).With this fresh perspective in understanding the Hebrew term zêker, we could confidently paraphrase the last sentence of Exodus 3:15 in the following way: “This is My name for all eternity, and this is My name I have marked in you to celebrate for every generation to come.”
ReviewLet’s review what we’ve discovered so far. YAH’s sacred name was openly used and spoken by the people of Israel, from the time of the Exodus to the destruction of the Second Temple: At the dawn of the Christian era, a new Jewish sect called the Pharisees began suppressing the use of YAH’s sacred name through regulations in their oral tradition.The church’s legacy with their Hebraic roots was lost when Christian scribes started substituting the Paleo-Hebrew characters that identified YAH’s sacred name in the Septuagint, for Greek letters of the word “Lord”.The church became increasingly anti-Semitic, eventually connecting YAH’s sacred name in Hebrew to the pagan worship of the Roman god Jupiter.Separated from the Temple and the ability to fulfill YAH’s commandments to cover their sins through a sacrificial offering, the Jews adopted the Pharisees’ Oral Law to retain some semblance of righteousness. The Apostle Paul cited this Oral Law in Romans 10:3 when he was reflecting on the lost condition of his own people, the Jews, “For not knowing about YAH’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own.” But the traditions of rabbinic Judaism that have obscured YAH’s sacred name, do not line up with the clear mandate YAH defines in Scripture; when and in what circumstances we are to use His sacred name. More evidence will be uncovered that will further substantiate this argument, but the points forwarded to demonstrate how YAH isn’t interested in hiding His name include:

  • It is YAH’s explicitly stated mandate to make His sacred name great among the nations.

  • Gentiles are recorded in Scripture pronouncing YAH’s sacred name and are never reproved for doing so. YAH reveals His sacred, covenant name to Moses and orders Moses to celebrate this sacred name forever.Gentiles are recorded in Scripture pronouncing YAH’s sacred name and are never reproved for doing so.

  • YAH reveals His sacred, covenant name to Moses and orders Moses to celebrate this sacred name forever

Chapter 2 – Speaking YAH’s Sacred Name

Written by Bruce Paul

 

Speaking YAHs Sacred NameWe’re going to jump right into unraveling this mystery of how to phonetically sound-out YAH’s true name. Flawed alternatives of  YAH’s sacred name that have been popularized within the church and the Jewish community, such as Yahweh and Jehovah, will be examined in the light of the historical interpretation of  YAH’s name. What we will discover is that there has been a covert agenda to keep both Christians and Jews from knowing and using YAH’s name. For now, we’ll focus on how one would correctly pronounce the sacred name of YAH.

El and Yah – Ancient Biblical Names for YAHIn the region of Southern Israel, known as the Negev desert, a number of ancient Semitic inscriptions have been found on pottery fragments and rock surfaces that are now believed to date back somewhere between 1200 and 1600 BC. Initially, these inscriptions were thought to be a much younger variation of pre-Talmudic writing, which is related to the South Arabic writing. But research conducted between 1994 and 1997 by archeologist J. R. Harris, and research assistant Dann W. Hone, verified that the script was a local variation of Proto-Canaanite known as Old Negev—a language closely associated to Ancient Hebrew.Harris and Hone successfully translated elements from 140 panels they located in the Negev and discovered that twenty-five percent of the inscriptions contain the names of the Elohim of Israel in the form: Yah, El/Yah, Yahu, and Yahh. Several Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions of  The Creator’s name EL have been found in the Sinai, dating back from between the 15th and 17th centuries BC. Together with the references to The Creator’s name here in the Negev, El and Yah are without question, the most ancient Scriptural names of The Creator identified in the archeology record.Harris and Hone also made a most exciting find while examining these inscriptions from the Negev. They discovered a link between both of these names, El and Yah in certain pictographic symbols that represent these names.“We have numerous examples of the seven branched tree used as an icon for Yah and sometimes in an El/Yah combination with such a tree and/or a ram. The Tree of Life icon projects the conception of Yah as the life and light of the world and the simple but powerful representation on [Mount] Har Karkom is hard to discount as a commemoration of the bush that burned but was not consumed before the eyes of Moses (Exodus 3:1–2).” 1Why is the connection of these pictographic symbols with these particular names of The Creator so exciting?
Well, one reason we can celebrate this evident relationship of this seven branch tree pictographic and The Creator’s name, is we now have a basis to believe there is a far more profound connection between the menorah lamp stand the Israelites placed in the Temple/Tabernacle and The Creator’s name Yah.The second reason is just as marvelous, but far more applicable to our discussion surrounding The Creator’s true name. Most scholars consider Yah to be a shortened, poetic form of the sacred “yud, hey, waw, hey” name, but since we have found all these ancient inscriptions of Yah in the Negev, and because the Yah name is associated with a symbol as significant as the Temple/Tabernacle menorah, we know the name must stand on its own. God was known to the ancient Israelites as both El and Yah.Scripture confirms this fact. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, leaving Pharaoh’s army behind, swept away by the waters of the sea, we can observe Moses in a moment of supreme praise, as he uses both of these names in Exodus 15:2, singing: “Yah is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my El and I will praise Him; My father’s Elohiym, and I will extol Him.”Yah and the Egyptian ConnectionAs a final piece of evidence confirming the fact that Yah was a principle name for Elohim by people who had lived in the land we now know as Israel, are references we find made three-thousand seven-hundred years ago in Egypt regarding the god Yah. Many would say that the Canaanite conquerors of Egypt known as the Hyksos introduced Yah to the Egyptians during the Middle Kingdom. But many of the references we find are hundreds of years earlier than the Hyksos. Royalty during this Middle Kingdom often took names that included Yah, such as Queen Ahhotep, which could be read “Yah-hotep”, or the famous Queen Ahmose Nefertari, which is really, “Yah-mose-Nefertari.”This last point is a controversial argument as the name Yah eventually becomes identified in Egypt with a moon deity, akin to the Akkadian moon-god Sin. This fact seems likely, considering how often the identity of various Egyptian gods were merged with other more popular deities. But regardless of how this name was used in Egypt, most agree that the name originated from the Levant, and experienced a period of popularity shortly after the time that Joseph would have ruled Egypt.How El and Yah are used in ScriptureBoth El and Yah are expressed names for The Creator in the Old Testament. El is referenced in the Strong’s dictionary as #410, and appears 245 times in Scripture. But El is better known by a number of compound terms that employ El to identify aspects of The Creator’s character. These compound names include:EL SHADDAI – meaning, “ (El) Almighty” EL ELYON – meaning, “ (El) Most High” EL ROI – meaning, “ (El) Sees” El SIMCHATH GILI – meaning, ” (El) My Exceeding Joy” El HAAKABODH – meaning, “ (El) of Glory” El HAY – meaning, “Living (El) ” Eli MAELEKHI – meaning, “ (El) My King” El SALI – meaning, “ (El), My Rock”There are also a number famous people in the Bible that incorporate The Creator’s name El into their own name, including:

  • Daniel (DaniEl) – meaning, “Judge of El”

  • Ezekiel (YechzqEl) – meaning, “El will strengthen”

  • Gabriel (Gabriy’El) – meaning, “Man of El”

  • Israel (YisraEl) – meaning, “He will rule (as) El”

  • Michael (Miyka’El) – meaning, “Who is like El?”

  • Samuel (Shemuw’El) – meaning, “Heard of El”

The name Yah is referenced in the Strong’s dictionary as # 3050 and appears at least 50 times in Scripture. Yah appears to be used interchangeably with God’s sacred name in Scripture (Exodus 17:16; Psalms 89:8; 104:35, 106:48, 111:1)Like the name El, there are a number famous people in the Scripture that incorporate God’s name Yah into their own name, including:

  • Urijah (Uwriyah) – meaning, “Yah is my light”

  • Dalaiah (Dĕlayah) – meaning, “Yah has drawn”

  • Hoshaiah (Howsha`yah) – meaning, “Yah as saved”

  • Zechariah (Zĕkaryah) – meaning, “Yah remembers”

  • Hezekiah (Chizqiyah) – meaning, “Yah is my strength”

  • Tobiah (Towbiyah) – meaning, “Yah is good”

  • Jedidiah (Yĕdiydĕyah) – meaning, “Beloved of Yah”

  • Jonathan (Yĕhownathan) – meaning, “Yah has given”

  • Jeremiah (Yirmĕyah) – meaning, “Yah has appointed”

  • Isaiah (Yĕsha`yah) – meaning, “Yah has saved”

  • Moriah (Moriyah) – meaning, “Chosen by Yah”

  • Nehemiah (Nĕchemyah) – meaning, “Yah comforts”

  • Zedekiah (Tsidqiyah) – meaning, “Yah is righteous”

Of course, the best-known composite name, HalleluYah, is a two-word phrase, hallelu and Yah, and means more than simply, “Praise Yah.” The Hebrew word hallel means, “a joyous praise in song,” or “to shine” like stars . . . with Yah.There are actually several hundred biblical names that contain El, Yah, Yahu, or Yahh, the very names of The Creator that Harris and Hone found on the Negev inscriptions. Scripture is absolutely saturated with these El and Yah names, so we thought many of the names were unique names for The Creator, but are just derivatives of ether the El or the Yah names for The Creator. However, as we find compound names of The Creator that define His character and nature using The Creator’s name El, one would assume to find that same utilization of The Creator’s name Yah, but we don’t. What we do find is a number of compound names of The Creator that incorporate the sacred name of The Creator, such as YHWH (Yud, Hey, Waw, Hey); as in Yireh which means, “YHVH Will Provide.”The Creator’s Sacred Covenant name begins with “Yah”We’ve now invested a good deal of time exploring these vital names El and Yah, as they are both fundamental in communicating to the world the wonder of The Creator’s substance and nature. We’ll take another look at The Creator’s name El when we attempt defining what His sacred name means, but The Creator’s name Yah has a direct bearing in our present quest to sound out The Creator’s sacred name. For, the first two letters of The Creator’s sacred name are Yud and Hey, which happens to spell Yah.But, before we continue to break down The Creator’s sacred name into its phonetic parts, we need to determine which type of Hebrew we should be working with. The Hebrew language is at least 3500 years old and has gone through considerable modifications through time. As you would expect, the rules for translating and articulating terms in these variants have changed. So then, which form of Hebrew should we follow?The Aramaic DeceptionThe Biblical Hebrew that seminary students study, as part of his biblical languages curriculum, really evolved from Aramaic—a language the Jews brought back with them from the Babylonian exile. After Rome destroyed the Temple in AD 70, the Aramaic language completely replaced the Hebrew alphabet that was used to record the Old Testament.Since every character in the Aramaic alphabet is a consonant, somewhere between AD 600 and AD 1000, Jewish scribes decided to add what are known as “vowel points” into the Aramaic text to help readers sound out each word. The new document the Rabbinic Jews produced using these vowel points is known to us as the Masoretic text. For most Jews, this text is the definitive Hebrew Bible. It defines both the books that have been approved as part of the Jewish canon of Scripture and the vowel points identify the correct vocalization of each word.This all seems straightforward enough, doesn’t it? 1) The Ancient Hebrew language died and was superseded by this form of Aramaic. 2) The Aramaic alphabet includes only consonants; so rabbinic scribes inserted vowel points to help express how each word in Scripture should be pronounced. BUT THE QUESTION IS, when translating The Creator’s sacred name, was there fidelity in the translation from the original ancient Hebrew text to the Masoretic text? It is a crucial question. Given the Talmud actually banned the pronunciation of The Creator’s sacred name; one might consider the reliability in rendering these texts accurately, suspect. As recorded in Mishnah Berurah 5:2:“It is forbidden to read the glorious and terrible name as it is written, as the sages said, ‘He that pronounces the name as it is written has no portion in the world to come.’ Therefore it must be read as if it were written Adonai.”Indeed, when we compare the Masoretic text with earlier documents such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, we find that The Creator’s sacred name has frequently been modified. Rabbinic scribes not only rendered The Creator’s sacred name as Adonai hundreds of times throughout the Masoretic text, the vowel points used within The Creator’s sacred name are often altered, depending on adjacent terms that may appear in the text. For example, rabbinic scribes would insert the vowel points found in Elohiym into The Creator’s sacred name whenever it appeared beside the title Adonai. The point of the matter is the Masoretic texts cannot provide the basis to authenticate how one would pronounce The Creator’s sacred name, since: It’s apparent that The Creator’s sacred name has been inconsistently rendered throughout the Masoretic text.We cannot know for certain that rabbinic scribes have faithfully reproduced The Creator’s sacred name from Hebrew into the Masoretic text. Many Jews who hold to Talmudic traditions actively attempt to keep The Creator’s sacred name from being spoken by their own people and have conspired to keep it completely hidden from the rest of the world. As close as these two languages may be related, Aramaic is not Ancient Hebrew, the language in which Scriptures were originally recorded.The Ancient Hebrew KeyWithout getting into a lot of technical details about language and culture, what do we know about the Ancient Hebrew language that could actually help us solve the mystery of accurately phonetically expressing The Creator’s sacred name? Well, there are three particular points we are going to introduce regarding Ancient Hebrew that will help to clear up a lot of the ambiguity: Ancient Hebrew is one of the earliest languages to use an abbreviated alphabet where each character is associated with a specific phonetic vocalization that replicated a language system. In fact, if long ago Hebrew slaves produced the ancient Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions discovered in the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadim, Ancient Hebrew was the first alphabet based language in history. But regardless of its place as first, or as an early descendent of the Proto-Sinaitic language, Ancient Hebrew was a simple language, with basic syntax and intonation. This isn’t like English where the rules of grammar are frequently broken. Once we understand how grammar works in Ancient Hebrew, we can confidently follow that same rule.Some of the characters in Ancient Hebrew doubled as vowels. You didn’t need to insert vowel points between the consonants of words, as these characters that were interchangeably used as vowels, produced the required vowel intonation.Ancient Hebrew uses a parent-root system. This point is best described by Jeff Benner’s Ancient Hebrew site: www.ancient-hebrew.org See reference on the following page:

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