In today’s lesson, Yehovah has commanded His son (Israel) to take vengeance for Him on Midian for what they did to us in the incident of Peor. We were to kill all their males and their women who had been with a male and then bring back the Midianite virgins alive. But we are still a bit new at all of this.
And they warred against the Midianites, just as Yehovah commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed–Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword. And Israel’s son took Midian’s women [na-shi, the possessive plural form of ish-shah] captive, with their children [ta-phim], and plundered all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods. They also burned with fire all the cities where they dwelt, and all their forts. And they took all their spoil and all their booty—in man and in beast. (Num 31:7-11)
It appears that the spoil is property (gold, silver and other possessions) which belonged to Midian’s seed, and the booty is their living and breathing property in man and in beast.
Moses was angry because we left all the women and children alive and brought them all back with us. He said,
Look [HELLO!], these women caused Israel’s seed, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against Yehovah in the incident of Peor, and there was a striking among the assembly of Yehovah. Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately. But keep alive for yourselves all the women who have not known a man intimately. (Num 31:16-18)
So, the Midianite virgins were set aside for the Israel’s seed along with the flocks (sheep and goats), cattle and donkeys. This chapter gives us a description of how all the booty, the living property, was divided among Israel’s seed. Each of two groups of men received 50%Â of the booty taken in the war and Yehovah also claimed a portion from each group.
This chart will help you understand more completely what I am reading and describing in my audio below.
Yehovah did not ask for any of the gold or the silver or any of the “stuff” which we recovered from Midian’s seed; it appears to me the things that have real value are the living and breathing property which can multiply itself in Yehovah’s kingdom. Continue reading Israel’s booty – Midianite Virgins And Livestock→
Esau hates Jacob, and he always will! The man who lives out his life in the flesh, will always hate the man who lives his life in the spirit. Esau was circumcised, he knew many of the commandments of Yehovah; BUT, he did not know Yehovah or serve Him.
An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. (Pro 29:27)
The righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart; merciful men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. (Isa 57:1)
Esau hates Jacob and tries to thwart him at every opportunity. Today we will see that he tried to kill Jacob after he received the blessing, when he came back from hiding at the house of Eber and while on his way to Haran.
Relatively few people have ever heard that Esau killed Nimrod, and then despised his birthright. We are going to see today that Esau, like Nimrod, had a desire to rule the world; what would an extra portion over his brother matter to Esau in light of world domination?
Again, it is the book of Yasher that has provided “the rest of the story.”
Nimrod’s Dream
After Terah’s son [Abram] was born, Nimrod had a dream. Here is the interpretation.
Yasher 12:50 And the king was grieved at the sight, and he awoke out of his sleep and his spirit was agitated; and he felt a great terror.
51 And in the morning the king rose from his couch in fear, and he ordered all the wise men and magicians to come before him, when the king related his dream to them.
52 And a wise servant of the king, whose name was Anuki, answered the king, saying, This is nothing else but the evil of Abram and his seed which will spring up against my master and king in the latter days.
Esau Killed Nimrod!
And in fact one of Abram’s seed, a wicked seed, did spring up in Nimrod’s latter days and kill him.
Yasher 27:4 And on a certain day Esau went in the field to hunt, and he found Nimrod walking in the wilderness with his two men.
5 And all his mighty men and his people were with him in the wilderness, but they removed at a distance from him, and they went from him in different directions to hunt, and Esau concealed himself from Nimrod, and he lurked for him in the wilderness.
6 And Nimrod and his men that were with him did not know, and Nimrod and his men frequently walked about in the field at the cool of the day, and to know where his men were hunting in the field.
7 And Nimrod and two of his men that were with him came to the place where they were, when Esau started suddenly from his lurking place, and drew his sword, and hastened and ran to Nimrod and cut off his head.
8 And Esau fought a desperate fight with the two men that were with Nimrod, and when they called out to him, Esau turned to them and smote them to death with his sword.
Nimrod Ruled With The Garments Which Elohim Made For Adam And His Woman
Nimrod had the garments that Yehovah made for Adam and his woman; they had been handed down to him through Ham and made him strong. It was these garments that were coveted by Esau.
Yasher 7:24 And the garments of skin which God made for Adam and his woman, when they went out of the garden, were given to Cush.
25 For after the death of Adam and his woman, the garments were given to Enoch, the son of Jared, and when Enoch was taken up to God, he gave them to Methuselah, his son.
26 And at the death of Methuselah, Noah took them and brought them to the ark, and they were with him until he went out of the ark.
27 And in their going out, Ham stole those garments from Noah his father, and he took them and hid them from his brothers.
28 And when Ham begat his first-born Cush, he gave him the garments in secret, and they were with Cush many days.
29 And Cush also concealed them from his sons and brothers, and when Cush had begotten Nimrod, he gave him those garments through his love for him, and Nimrod grew up, and when he was twenty years old he put on those garments.
30 And Nimrod became strong when he put on the garments, …
Esau Stole The Garments
Yasher 27:10 And when Esau saw the mighty men of Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled, and thereby escaped; and Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod’s father had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land, and he ran and concealed them in his house.
And Then Esau Despised His birthright
Now we know why Esau was so weary when he came from the field and met Jacob and was so nonchalant about his birthright.
Yasher 27:11 And Esau took those garments and ran into the city on account of Nimrod’s men, and he came unto his father’s house wearied and exhausted from fight, and he was ready to die through grief when he approached his brother Jacob and sat before him.
12 And he said unto his brother Jacob, Behold I shall die this day, and wherefore then do I want the birthright? And Jacob acted wisely with Esau in this matter, and Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, for it was so brought about by Yehovah.
13 And Esau’s portion in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth for the possession of a burial ground, Esau also sold to Jacob, and Jacob bought all this from his brother Esau for value given.
Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way, thus Esau despised his birthright. (Gen 25:29-34)
I wonder who currently has those garments. If it is the very fleshly descendants of Esau that rule the earth now, we (Israel’s seed) will fight with them again. I talk a lot about that in this portion. Please watch the video, listen to this audio or download it for your mp3 player and listen to it later.
Here are some other articles you might be interested in.
For more teachings like this one (beginning at Genesis 1), visit our Join Us for Sabbath page.
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This is the first time that Torah says “the life of Sarah” and did not say “and she lived so many years, and died.” Sarah was Abraham’s woman for 87 years; and she bore Isaac for him when she was 90 years of age. Sarah was a woman of worth who taught other women to do the same!
Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. (Gen 23:1)
So many folks treat the people in Torah like they are different from us; like the lives they lived have no application for our own. I fear this is a grievous mistake and this portion of scripture (Genesis 23 and 24) really drives that fact home for me. Abraham and his camp did things that every one of us does; birthed children, fought enemies, married, bought land, buried their loved ones and so much more.
That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new?” It has already been in ancient times before us. (Ecc 1:9-10)
Nothing has changed!
Now that Sarah has passed Abraham wants to bury her in a very special place so he buys a field that has a machpelah (or double roomed) cave.
Machpelah means double portion; Abraham seems to have bought a cave with two rooms in it. One part for initial decay and the other part had boxes, or ossuaries, stacked with the bones of their ancestors. Abraham paid a premium price for the land and this special cave. The transfer of this land was completed with 4 witnesses to guarantee that Abraham’s descendants would have it perpetually. Here is the portion from Yasher that describes the “escrow” process that was used in the transfer of this land from Heth’s sons to Abraham and his seed forever.
Yasher 24:6 And Ephron answered and said, Behold the field and the cave are before thee, give whatever thou desires; and Abraham said, Only at full value will I buy it from thy hand, and from the hands of those that go in at the gate of thy city, and from the hand of thy seed for ever.
7 And Ephron and all his brethren heard this, and Abraham weighed to Ephron four hundred shekels of silver in the hands of Ephron and in the hands of all his brethren; and Abraham wrote this transaction, and he wrote it and testified it with four witnesses.
8 And these are the names of the witnesses, Amigal son of Abishna the Hittite, Adichorom son of Ashunach the Hivite, Abdon son of Achiram the Gomerite, Bakdil the son of Abudish the Zidonite.
9 And Abraham took the book of the purchase, and placed it in his treasures, and these are the words that Abraham wrote in the book, namely:
10 That the cave and the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite, and from his seed, and from those that go out of his city, and from their seed for ever, are to be a purchase to Abraham and to his seed and to those that go forth from his loins, for a possession of a burial-place for ever; and he put a signet to it and testified it with witnesses.
11 And the field and the cave that was in it and all that place were made sure unto Abraham and unto his seed after him, from Heth’s sons; behold it is before Mamre in Hebron, which is in the land of Canaan.
Abraham bought the property from the Gentiles (Heth’s sons) using the currency of the land in which he dwelt. He used their sons as witnesses to this transaction so there could be no dispute.
Abraham was loved and greatly respected by his neighbors; even Abimelech and the eldest and most respected leaders of the land came to Sarah’s funeral.
Yasher 24:13 And Abraham buried Sarah with pomp as observed as the interment of kings, and she was buried in very fine and beautiful garments.
14 And at her bier was Shem, his son Eber and Abimelech: together with Anar, Ashcol and Mamre, and all the grandees of the land followed her bier.
A Bride for Isaac
After Sarah died Abraham sent Isaac to live with Shem and Eber for 3 years and then sent Eliezer to Haran to find a bride for Isaac. In this teaching I cover the Genesis record of this event; a very touching story.
In your mind’s eye, how old was Isaac when Yehovah told Abraham to bring him to Mount Moriah, kill him and make him a burnt offering (an olah)? In the olah offering it is the smoke that comes from the altar which is the sweet aroma to Yehovah. Most people see a boy being led by his father up the hill.
But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt [olah]offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, Elohim (his lawmaker and judge) will provide for Himself the lamb for a olah.” So the two of them went together. (Gen 22:7-8)
In our last meeting (Abraham walked with Yehovah) we saw that Isaac was 37 and his brother (Ishmael) was 51 (when Yehovah, after talking with Satan, decided to test Abraham; that would make Abraham 137 and and Sarah (Isaac’s mother) 127. Is it a coincidence that Sarah died that same year that Isaac was taken by Abraham from Beersheva up to mount Moriah? The book of Yasher provides much background information that brings new life to this story.
Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. (Gen 23:1)
Many people use the story of the daughters of Zelophehad to say that women can own land in Yehovah’s kingdom. I think this whole idea comes from our erroneous “wishful thinking” that has aligned itself with the doctrines and traditions of men that we have all learned and accepted as true. But it is not true! We have learned lies, worthless and unprofitable things. Most folks read what is said about the daughters of Zelophehad in Numbers 27 and simply see what they want or expect to see, but chapter 36 add greater light to this story.
The whole subject of this story is about a MAN (an eesh) who dies and has no son as an heir. It has nothing to do with a woman (an ishshah) who dies. Here is what it says.
And you shall speak to Israel’s seed, saying: ‘If a man [eesh, there are no female eesh] dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the relative closest to him in his family, and he shall possess it.’ ” And it shall be to Israel’s seed a statute of judgment, just as Yehovah commanded Moses. (Num 27:8-11)
Because we, in our ignorance, build a doctrine based on a single paragraph (and ignore the whole of Yehovah’s eternal and unchanging word) and then try to make the paragraph fit with the perverted doctrines and traditions of men which we have accepted as truth all our lives, we miss the truth that is right in front of us. “If a man dies…”
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house [a possession of the man]; you shall not covet your neighbor’s woman [a possession of the man], nor his male servant [a possession of the man], nor his female servant [a possession of the man], nor his ox [a possession of the man], nor his donkey [a possession of the man], nor anything that is your neighbor’s [hopefully you have my point by now].” (Exo 20:17)
Again, the woman is a possession of her man, and what she possesses, he possesses.
In today’s lesson, Yehovah has commanded His son (Israel) to take vengeance for Him on Midian for what they did to us in the incident of Peor. We were to kill all their males and their women who had been with a male and then bring back the Midianite virgins alive. But we are still a bit new at all of this.
Yehovah did not ask for any of the gold or the silver or any of the “stuff” which we recovered from Midian’s seed; it appears to me the things that have real value are the living and breathing property which can multiply itself in Yehovah’s kingdom. Continue reading Israel’s booty – Midianite Virgins And Livestock 
Esau hates Jacob, and he always will! The man who lives out his life in the flesh, will always hate 
Many people use the story of the daughters of Zelophehad to say that women can own land in Yehovah’s kingdom. I think this whole idea comes from our erroneous “wishful thinking” that has aligned itself with the doctrines and traditions of men that we have all learned and accepted as true. But it is not true! We have learned lies, worthless and unprofitable things. Most folks read what is said about the daughters of Zelophehad in Numbers 27 and simply see what they want or expect to see, but chapter 36 add greater light to this story.