This is part 3 of a series about Yehovah’s called-out and set-apart men (many call them the 144,000) of the last days who will lead many out of their Egypt, their Babylon. If you have not already done so, please read Part 1 – The virgin of Israel and Part 2 – The saints, His Kind first.
Israel, Yehovah’s seed and spiritually born men (eesh) were all once just the sons of Jacob. We were chosen and set apart by Him because of His relationship with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But we were an unfaithful people (harlots/adulterers) who left Yehovah and made covenants with and served the elohim (lawmakers and judges) of the nations which were all around us. First we served the Egyptians, then the Assyrians and finally the Babylonians.
Israel, Yehovah’s bride, His saints who made covenant with him by slaughter [we saw this in part 2] were to be His special treasure (His segulah), pure, spotless and untainted by the world.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant [we did it once at Passover, but we need to continue], then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests [Yehovah only has male priests] and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to Israel’s seed.” Exo 19:5-6
We were so unfaithful to Yehovah that He finally sent us away and cast us into all the nation of the world.
And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy. I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down your high places. They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare. (Eze 16:38-39)
And this is the condition we have been in for about 2500 years. We have been in Babylon [Here is a great link to help you understand what Babylon is.] for so long that we do not even know who we are supposed to be.
“Come away from her son, she is being disciplined!”
“Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal [become their servants]. Remove your veil, take off the skirt, uncover the thigh [take off your garments of righteousness], pass through the rivers [the people who dwell on earth]. Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will not arbitrate with a man [×ד×, a·dam’, a man of the flesh].” (Isa 47:1-3)
We, I, men, have been in Babylon our entire life and are sarcastically, and legitimately, called a “virgin daughter of Babylon” and a “daughter of the Chaldeans” by Yehovah;” we have NEVER BEEN His and have always and faithfully served in Babylon.
A virgin daughter of Babylon is the antonym of the virgin of Israel; just as the sons of belial are to the righteous and upright men of Yehovah. The first has covenants with, and serves in, the kingdoms of the world; and the latter is in covenant with Yehovah and serves only Him.
Now, please compare the following verse with the one above, Isaiah 47:1-3.
Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments [the garments of righteousness], O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down [on your throne], O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion [Zion, Jerusalem, and “the holy city” are all synonyms for Yehovah’s spiritually born men]! For thus says Yehovah, “You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” (Isa 52:1-3)
Awake! Awake! This is my message for you today and the same message of the Song of Songs!
You (men) can become one of the great ones in the future; part of the “male-child” and one of the el who will rule with Yehovah in the Millennial kingdom.
Even now Yehovah is raising up a people for Himself. They are all men who will leave the kingdom of their birth, join themselves to Yehovah and His other called-out men as a Ger; and then draw near at Passover and become His segulah, His special treasure, His Ezrach man. THIS IS THE BORN AGAIN EXPERIENCE and this is the “one new man.” This man, because of this spiritual birth, has now ALWAYS been Yehovah’s and therefore eligible to become His spouse. Yes, even Yehovah is a polygynist. 😉
“Then shall the virgin [בתולה, be·thu·lah] rejoice in the dance, young men [ובחרי×, ba·chu·rim] and the old, together; for I will turn their mourning to joy, will comfort them, and make them rejoice rather than sorrow. (Jer 31:13)
For as a young man [בחור, ba·chur’] marries [יבעל, ba’·al – masters] a virgin [בתולה, be·thu·lah], So Thou shall marry [יבעלוך, ba’·al – master ] Thy sons [×‘× ×™×š, possessive and plural form of ben]; and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride , so shall thy Elohim rejoice over thee. (Isa 62:5)
The virgin of Israel, who was a virgin daughter of Babylon, is Yehovah’s Ezrach man and Yehovah’s future bride. Yeshua is NOT the groom, he is just one more bride to be. All the NT “bride of christ” nonsense is yet one more false image which we have adopted that simply has no foundation in Yehovah’s eternal and unchanging words given through Moses and His other prophets.
But like so much of what I write, this is all about men; and I am sure there are many ladies asking, “What about us? Where do we fit into all this? Well, in part 4 I hope to answer those questions both to your satisfaction and in accordance with Yehovah’s word; at the very least, the latter. Surviving the coming last days is all about conforming our lives (both men and their women) to Yehovah’s created purpose for them. Noah’s woman (Na·a·mah’) made it alive through the flood because her man “walked with Yehovah.”
The story about the taking of Dinah is amazing, and the implications of what had been done to her had significant ramifications. My previous understandings, if you can even call them that, which I had in my mind concerning this event were so far away from the reality of the situation that I am ashamed for thinking as I did.
And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her [וירא– raw-aw] and he took her [ויקח– law-kakh] and he laid with her [וישׁכב– shaw-kab], and he humbled her [ויענה׃ – aw-naw]. (Gen 34:2)
When Shechem saw Dinah, took her, laid with her and humbled her – he treated her the way captives are to be treated in Israel after their coverings have been killed. I discus this at length in my teaching Israel’s booty – Midianite virgins and livestock.
“When you go out to war against your enemies, and Yehovah your Elohim [lawmaker and judge] delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, and you see her [וראית– raw-aw] among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her [ולקחת– law-kakh] for your woman, then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her master [ובעלתה– ba’al], and she shall be your woman. And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have humbled her [עניתה׃ – aw-naw]. (Deu 21:10-14)
Yasher 33:10 And Shechem beheld Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and when he looked at her his soul became fixed upon Dinah.
11 And he sent and had her taken by force, and Dinah came to the house of Shechem and he seized her forcibly and lay with her and humbled her, and he loved her exceedingly and placed her in his house.
Shechem, in his taking of Dinah, treated her like a virgin captive taken in a battle with an enemy! He made her his concubine! He stole Dinah from her father! This is an adulterous action; Shechem took another man’s woman for himself.
Now add to that, the fact that Dinah was only 8 years old and the only daughter of Jacob (99) and the only sister of 10 older brothers (Joseph was younger and Benjamin had not yet been born). And, now that she has been defiled (made tamei), no righteous man will want her. And last but certainly not least, Dinah is still being held captive in Shechem’s house!
Yasher 33:12 And they came and told the thing unto Jacob, and when Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, Jacob sent twelve of his servants to fetch Dinah from the house of Shechem, and they went and came to the house of Shechem to take away Dinah from there.
13 And when they came Shechem went out to them with his men and drove them from his house, and he would not suffer them to come before Dinah, but Shechem was sitting with Dinah kissing and embracing her before their eyes.
Where is the kingdom of heaven today? Or, perhaps more aptly stated, “where is our heart today?”
Many, most, have dismissed the kingdom of heaven as a kingdom that will come after the tribulation; these folks have said that, for now, we must live according to the “laws of the land.” But this “laws of the land” false image comes only from a spirit of harlotry which we have all learned? The very reason that Yehovah’s men are commanded to wear tassels or tzitzit is so we remember to keep His commandments and not follow the harlotry to which our hearts and eyes are inclined. Continue reading Precept 9 – The Kingdom of Heaven→
For most of my life I took it for granted that the Creator, the King of the universe heard my prayers. However now that I look back, I am forced to ask myself if I ever really even prayed. Oh yes I did throw up a petition now and then, usually for myself or my family, but rarely for others. And I assumed that those petitions were heard. After all, I prayed using the magic words “in Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name.â€
Yehovah spoke to Hosea saying:
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your Elohim (God – lawmaker, judge), I also will forget your sons.†(Hos 4:6)
And through Isaiah He said:
“Therefore My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.†(Isa 5:13)
We do not know Yehovah’s word. Oh sure, we have memorized many of the sound bites from the “Gospels” the commentaries of Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude; but we have not learned The Word (Torah – the Law and the Prophets) that the commentaries are about and we have certainly not obeyed that word. We have been very poor Bereans and have not searched out the scriptures as they did.
“Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.†(Act 17:10-11)
What does Yehovah’s word have to say about prayer? Does Yehovah hear everyone’s prayers? Or is He a bit more selective than we might think and even hope?
Concerning Israel, Moses says:
“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as Yehovah, my Elohim commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has Elohim so near to it, as Yehovah our Elohim is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?†(Deu 4:5-8)
“The slaughter of the wicked is an abomination to Yehovah, but the prayers of the upright is His delight. “(Pro 15:8)
Israel’s seed is Yehovah’s special treasure; he hears the prayers of those who love Him and keep His ways, He said so! But what about those who do not? Of them he says:
“One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayers are an abomination.†(Pro 28:9)
“Then they will cry to Yehovah, but He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds.†(Mic 3:4)
“Behold, Yehovah’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your Elohim; And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.†(Isa 59:1-2)
“Thus says Yehovah to this people: ‘Thus they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore Yehovah does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, and punish their sins.’ Then Yehovah said to me: ‘Do not pray for this people, for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry.’ †(Jer 14:10-12)
When Solomon dedicated the first temple he seemed to know that Yehovah’s people would fall away constantly, so in His prayers of dedication He asked the Father to hear the prayers of the people when they returned to Yehovah and His ways. It is the prayer of a broken and contrite (repentant) heart, that Yehovah will always hear, even if you are a thief who is dying on a cross.
“And when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name: then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayers and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You; and grant them compassion before those who took them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace), that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You.†(1Ki 8:48-52)
“The slaughters of Elohim are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart— these, O Elohim, You will not despise.†(Psa 51:17)
So please, do not wait until you need Yehovah’s help; help that will be essential to your survival in the coming last days. Return to Him and His ways now and He will direct your heart to His ways. Then when the need arises He will hear your prayers and answer you for “what ever you call on Him for.â€
While True Israel will make it their goal to learn and obey, others won’t; some prayers Yehovah hears, and some, He don’t.
“Come away from her son, she is being disciplined!”
