Category Archives: Woman of Worth

she is my sister, Genesis 20, Genesis 20 2, Yasher 20, Abimelech

“She is my sister” – Genesis 20

She is my sister? Oh my – what has Abraham done? The woman who he took to himself 49 years ago; the same woman who Yehovah JUST said would give him the promised son/seed on the next “Time of Life” moed (in less a year), has just been given to Abimelech as his woman.

Abraham has lived in Hebron, which is next to Mamre, for 21 years. Now, right after the destruction of Sodom he goes (I think “flees”) south to Gerar. Why did he leave so suddenly? Is it possible that he was avoiding poisonous gasses from Sodom which were coming up from the valley?

“She Is My sister” Was Said Out Of Fear

This Genesis 20 story moves along quickly; and in verse 2 Abraham is already telling Abimelech, King of Gerar about Sarah saying, “she is my sister.”

Now Abraham said of Sarah his woman, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. (Gen 20:2)

Augh! Why would Abraham say “she is my sister” except out of fear? She is his woman (there is no word for wife in Torah) and his niece; NOT his sister. He fears the king and what he can do to him, and he has failed to understand the significance of what Yehovah had told Him, through His sent ones, just days before.

Is anything too hard for Yehovah? At the appointed time [the moed] I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Gen 18:14)

Abraham is about to receive the son which Yehovah promised him 25 years before. Nothing can happen to Abraham until Sarah conceives his son and still have Yehovah’s word fulfilled. But Abraham fears the people of the land more than he trusts in Yehovah who ALWAYS does what He says He will do. And now beautiful Sarah has been taken by Abimelech as his woman.

And what about Sarah? What a woman of worth she is! Practically every woman today, if faced with the situation that Sarah found herself in, would betray her husband’s confidence. But Sarah did what Abraham asked, even to her own potential hurt. I want a woman like that!

I love this story! It demonstrates Yehovah’s faithfulness to fulfill His words even when those who truly are in covenant/cutting with Him fail miserably by saying foolish and unnecessary things like “she is my sister.”

Here is yet another case where the book of Yasher gives “the rest of the story;” I know you will find it interesting.

“She is my sister” – Genesis 20

2G25 Genesis 20 & Yasher 20 – “She is my sister”
[Click here to download this audio mp3]

Copyright© 2015 Providence Ministries, All rights reserved.

For more teachings like this one (beginning at Genesis 1), visit our Join Us for Sabbath page.

Please Contact Michael to help support his work in building Yehovah’s kingdom on the earth.

Providence Ministries is NOT incorporated with any kingdom of this world. Providence Ministries is an affiliate of the Director of Ecclesiastical Enterprises, a Washington State acknowledged corporation sole of the ecclesia on file with the Secretary of the State. This charitable ministry is not for profit and maintains its nontaxable status consistent with 26 USC 508(c)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code with respect to 501 (c)(3) organizations special rules as a “mandatory exception.”

 

Abram And Lot Separate – Lot Was Not “With” Abram

Abram and lot separateGenesis 12 tells us that when Abram left Haran (at 75), that Lot went with him. But few people understand that Abram and Lot separate within that very year.

So Abram departed as Yehovah had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (Gen 12:4)

What do we know about Lot? Here is the first and second time he is mentioned in Genesis.

This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. (Gen 11:27)

And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s woman, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. (Gen 11:31)

To understand who Lot is we must first understand who Terah and Haran are.

Terah was, until he left Babylon (via Ur), the head of Nimrod’s host for more than 50 years; and he was a very wealthy man. He bore Haran (and then Nahor) 32 years before Abram was born.

Haran was what I like to call a “fence-sitter,” neither cold or hot for Yehovah and His eternal and unchanging ways. Through a series of events which began with a sign in the heavens at the birth of Abram and concluded with Abram confronting his father (Terah), and then Nimrod himself, for encouraging ha·a·dams’s seed to worship images, both Haran (82) and Abram (50) are thrown into Nimrod’s fiery furnace. Haran was thrown in because of a lie Terah told to protect himself. You will have to read the links above to understand that story fully.

So, if Abram was 50, Lot had to be approximately 43; and the entitled son of Haran, the first-born son of Terah, the head of Nimrod’s host and the only heir of his father Haran.

We saw last time, after Nimrod called Abram out of the fiery furnace, that 200 men joined themselves to Abram and became his servants; and they and their families stayed at Terah’s house for 2 years. As Haran’s heir, Lot not only has his own home and servants, but also his father’s home and all his servants.

And now, 25 years later Abram is leaving the second time for Canaan (he has already lived there for 15 years and Haran for 8) and Lot is now going with him. Abram leaves the second time with around 1000+ people going with him (perhaps as many as 600 are men) and hundreds of sheep, goats and cattle.

But feeding this many people and animals in a drought is difficult and Abram is forced to go to Egypt. We talk about  his visit there at length in our class today.

Look at how Genesis 13 starts.

Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his woman and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. (Gen 13:1)

All that Abram had, and he had a LOT of men, servants, cattle, silver and gold; but Lot and all he had was not part of Abram’s possessions.

Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. (Gen 13:5)

Lot was “with him,” but he did not obey Abram nor learn from him.

Was there anyone who went with Abram who did not obey him? Look what Yasher says about Lot.

Jasher 15:35 And Lot the son of Haran, Abram’s brother, had a heavy stock of cattle, flocks and herds and tents, for Yehovah was bountiful to him on account of Abram.
36 And when Abram was dwelling in the land the herdsmen of Lot quarreled with the herdsmen of Abram, for their property was too great for them to remain together in the land, and the land could not bear them on account of their cattle.
37 And when Abram’s herdsmen went to feed their flock they would not go into the fields of the people of the land, but the cattle of Lot’s herdsmen did otherwise, for they were suffered to feed in the fields of the people of the land [we will see that the “people of the land” are all men, Canaan’s seed].
38 And the people of the land saw this occurrence daily, and they came to Abram and quarreled with him on account of Lot’s herdsmen.
39 And Abram said to Lot, What is this thou art doing to me, to make me despicable to the inhabitants of the land, that thou orders thy herdsman to feed thy cattle in the fields of other people? Dost thou not know that I am a stranger in this land among Canaan’s seed, and why wilt thou do this unto me?
40 And Abram quarreled daily with Lot on account of this, but Lot would not listen to Abram, and he continued to do the same, and the inhabitants of the land came and told Abram.

Abram and Lot Separate

If one of the men or servants, who Abram is teaching and leading, were to disobey him they would be asked to leave. Those whom Abram leads MUST follow his directions or they will not be allowed to stay. But it is a different story for a relative who is simply “with” you. Listen to how Abram addresses Lot.

So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between thee and me, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Please separate from me. If thou take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if thou go to the right, then I will go to the left.” (Gen 13:8-9)

In Yasher he says it like this.

Yasher 15:42 But I pray thee separate from me, go and choose a place where thou may dwell with thy cattle and all belonging to thee, but keep thyself at a distance from me, thou and thy household. [Lot’s household is not Abram’s household.]
43 And be not afraid in going from me, for if any one do an injury to thee, let me know and I will avenge thy cause from him, only remove from me.

I think Lot was “with” Abram for two reasons; the blessing he received and the protection he enjoyed while he was “with” him. This makes me wonder, “what about Lot made him a righteous man?” Did he escape the burning at Sodom because he was righteous, or was it perhaps because of the words Abram spoke when Abram and Lot separated? Time will tell.

Abram and Lot Separate – Lot was Not “With” Abram

2G17 Genesis 13 and Yasher 14 – 15
[Click here to download this audio mp3]

Copyright © 2015 Providence Ministries, All rights reserved.

For more teachings like this one (beginning at Genesis 1), visit our Join Us for Sabbath page.

Please Contact Michael to help support his work in building Yehovah’s kingdom on the earth.

Providence Ministries is NOT incorporated with any kingdom of this world. Providence Ministries is an affiliate of the Director of Ecclesiastical Enterprises, a Washington State acknowledged corporation sole of the ecclesia on file with the Secretary of the State. This charitable ministry is not for profit and maintains its nontaxable status consistent with 26 USC 508(c)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code with respect to 501 (c)(3) organizations special rules as a “mandatory exception.”

Save

Yehovah’s Servants (4) – A Woman Of Value Will Live

woman of worth. woman of value, a woman of worth, worthy woman, Proverbes 31 woman, Proverbs 31 10Surviving the coming last days is all about conforming our lives (both for men and their women) to Yehovah’s created purpose. Noah’s woman (Na·a·mah’, a woman of value) made it alive through the flood because her man, her place of safety, “walked with Yehovah,” not her.

[Note: If you have not read the three previous parts of this series please read them now; this article is best understood in the context of the other three. Here are links to them all; Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.]

The Woman of Value Will Live

Jasher gives some interesting information concerning Naamah. She was the daughter of Enoch who was taught how to be a woman of value from one of the most righteous men who ever lived on the earth.

Yasher 5:12 Noah the son of Lamech refrained from taking a woman in those days, to beget sons, for he said, Surely now Elohim will destroy the earth, wherefore then shall I beget sons?
13 And Noah was a just man, he was perfect in his generation, and Yehovah chose him to raise up seed from his seed upon the face of the earth.
14 And Yehovah said unto Noah, Take unto thee a woman, and beget sons, for I have seen thee righteous before me in this generation.
15 And thou shalt raise up seed, and thy sons with thee, in the midst of the earth; and Noah went and took a woman, and he chose Naamah the daughter of Enoch, and she was five hundred and eighty years old.
16 And Noah was four hundred and ninety-eight years old, when he took Naamah for his woman.

Noah was 82 years younger than Naamah but Yehovah used her, at 580 years of age, to give Noah 3 sons. So, for those of you who think you are too old, it appears to me that age is irrelevant.

Isaiah says,

But those who wait on Yehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isa 40:31)

When these men renew their strength, is it too far-fetched to think that their women (bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh) will not also renew their strength?

We have seen that all the servants of Yehovah, those who will be used by Him to deliver His people from their Egypt (their Babylon), are men, not women. And we left off in part 3 asking how do women fit into this picture and what hope does each have for the coming last days. I think Naamah is a great example of this.

We will see, in the coming last days, that men and single women will be the first to perish from the earth. Men, because they failed to lead their families in the way they should go; and single woman because they failed to become what Yehovah created them to be, an “aide suitable” for their man. This is made very clear in my writing about “The creation of woman.” It was to the woman who Yehovah said,

… your desire shall be for thy man [אישׁך, thy eesh], and he shall rule over thee [not Yehovah].” (Gen 3:16)

I grieve when I read how most Bibles translate the above verse; they use the words “thy husband” instead of “thy man.” But the man, who a woman of value is laying down her life to serve, is not always her “husband.” This man can be a “husband,” but he can also be a father, grandfather, uncle, male cousin, adult son or even her master  (in the case of a maid-servant). The point I am trying to make here is a woman MUST learn to lay down her life in service to her man!

A woman without a man in her life has no access to Yehovah; she can not participate in Passover (a feast for only men) in order to have her sins forgiven, she can not go into the temple, and can not bring any kind of offering to Yehovah. In fact, the only time a woman is brought into the temple is when she is in trouble for not holding true to her man (see Numbers 5).

So how does a woman protect herself? The answer to this question is not “politically correct,” and not one that most women want to hear. But just as every man has rebelled from doing what Yehovah created him to do, so has every woman. As a man needs to learn to become a righteous man, so must a woman learn to become a woman of worth. (Note: You must visit this link, I have much to say concerning how a woman becomes a woman of value.)

Being conformed into the man (or woman) that we were created to be, does not happen by accident; it is a daily process of laying down our life in service to our master; Yehovah, for a man and “her man,” for a woman.

Abigail was married to a very wicked and foolish man, his name was Nabal.

The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his woman was Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb. (1Sa 25:3)

When David came to destroy Nabal and all the men of his household it was Abigail who intervened to save her man. She in essence said “kill me, not my man!

So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord [a woman only calls a man adoni, never Yehovah], on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. (1Sa 25:24)

The story of David, a man with a heart for Yehovah, and Abigail is a shadow picture of exactly what is going to happen in the coming last days. David is likened to the “servants of Elohim,” the saints, His kind,” or a.k.a. “the 144,000” which this series is all about; and Abigail is likened to all women of worth, each woman who has learned to lay down their lives in service to their man. I talk about this comparison at length in my video called “The 144,000 in the Scriptures.”

That night Nabal had what appears to be a stroke, and within about 10 days he died.

I am sure when David saw the respect and wisdom that Abigail had shown him and the selflessness she had shown towards her man, he must have said to himself what I thought when I read this story, “I need to find myself a woman of value like this one.” So when David heard that Nabal had died, he sent servants to Abigail to ask her to be his woman. Listen to her answer, it makes me weep when I hear what she says to David’s servants.

Then she arose, bowed her face to the earth, and said, “Here is your maidservant, a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” (1Sa 25:41)

Oh my, Abigail was a woman of value and an extra-mile girl like Rebecca who knew the importance of being covered by a righteous man and understood how it would affect her eternity. She knew David had other women, and that she would be his 2nd or 3rd woman.

Well, as I said, this story is a shadow picture of the coming last days. Women are even now beginning to realize how important it is to their eternity that each of them learn to become a woman of value in serving their man. And for those who do not have a man in their life currently, finding one to serve is a priority.

There is a reason, in the last days, 7 women will take hold of one man and say,

“We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.” (Isa 4:1)

What is the “reproach” that these 7 women have in their life?

Answer: They do not belong to a man and now they realize that in order to be a woman of value they must belong to and serve some man. But these women are wiser than most, they know Torah and phrase their request in light of it. See any similarities here?

If he takes another woman, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights. (Exo 21:10)

Righteous men, who have left the kingdom of their birth and now only serve Yehovah are not the rich men of the world; and like me, often live from day-to-day. Being able to afford to bring a woman into my life and my 8′ by 12′ room is just not a possibility; the donations I receive barely feed me.

But these women, who understand Torah, are bringing resources with them.

What does it mean to be “called by your name?” Does it mean they are sexually intimate with this man? Or does it mean that they are his possessions? Is not a man’s servant also called by his name? How about His maid-servant? This reminds me of the question Boaz asked when he saw Ruth for the first time.

Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” (Rth 2:5)

This is the question every woman must ask herself. “Whose woman am I?”

Mark my words, they will go down in your permanent record in heaven. “A woman MUST have a man in her life whom she is learning to serve with all her heart, with all her soul and with all her strength. THAT is her place of safety!

Next time we will talk about what it means to be “defiled with women.” David’s first woman will be used for an example of a woman who tried to defile him; I love his reaction to her.

Wow – so much to learn, so little time.

Go to Part 5 – Not Defiled With Woman

The Blessings And Curses

blessings and cursesDeuteronomy 28 is Moses’ review, at Mount Gerizim  and Mount Ebal, of the blessings and curses that Yehovah pronounced in Leviticus 26. Israel’s seed is blessed for following the statutes, judgements and ordinances of Yehovah, their Elohim (the lawmaker and judge) and cursed for following the statutes, judgements and ordinances of other lawmakers and judges.

This is not about Gentiles. Men either lay down their life in service to Yehovah, leave the kingdom of their birth and join themselves to Him and His other called-out people, or they are nothing more than walking dead. And women must learn to lay down their life in service to their man. Everyone must conform their life to Yehovah’s created purpose, or perish forever.

The Blessings and Curses

2D15 Deuteronomy 28:15-68 – The Blessings and curses in mp3
[Click to play this audio or right-click and “Save As” to download]

Copyright © 2017 Providence Ministries, All rights reserved.

For more FREE audio teachings like this one (beginning at Genesis 1), visit our Join Us for Sabbath page.

Please Contact Michael to help support his work in building Yehovah’s kingdom on the earth.

Providence Ministries is NOT incorporated with any kingdom of this world. Providence Ministries is an affiliate of the Director of Ecclesiastical Enterprises, a Washington State acknowledged corporation sole of the ecclesia on file with the Secretary of the State. This charitable ministry is not for profit and maintains its nontaxable status consistent with 26 USC 508(c)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code with respect to 501 (c)(3) organizations special rules as a “mandatory exception.

Save

Save

Save

The Taking Of Dinah And The Fall Of Shechem

Dinah, Genesis 34The 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.

taking of dinahShechem, 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.

Continue reading The Taking Of Dinah And The Fall Of Shechem

Jacob Receives The Promise

Jacob receives the promise, Genesis 29,Genesis 30, Yasher 30, Yasher 31,Jacob was sheckleless and alone when he arrived in Haran. As we saw last time, all he had was Yehovah’s Promise. It took twenty year, but Jacob receives the promise.

Jacob served Laban for seven years and then took the twins (28), first Leah and then Rachel a week later, he was 84. Over the next 7 years all his sons (except Benjamin) would be born to him. And during these same 14 years Laban also had been blessed in sons and daughters, riches.

Yasher 31:24 At that time, the other seven years which Jacob served Laban for Rachel were completed, and it was at the end of fourteen years that he had dwelt in Haran that Jacob said unto Laban, give me my women and send me away, that I may go to my land, for behold my mother did send unto me from the land at Canaan that I should return to my father’s house.
25 And Laban said unto him, Not so I pray thee; if I have found favor in thy sight do not leave me; appoint me thy wages and I will give them, and remain with me.

Give me my women and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you.” And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that Yehovah has blessed me for your sake.” (Gen 30:26-27)

Jacob Receives The Promise Continue reading Jacob Receives The Promise