Joyful and Special Appointments
Chapter 16: God’s Three appointed Festivals
…The appointed times of יהוה which you are to proclaim as set-apart gatherings, –My appointed times are these. [Leviticus 23:2]
And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commands. The one who says ‘I know Him,’ and does not guard His commands, is a liar and the truth is not in Him. [1John 2:3,4]
In chapter 6 I discussed the importance of Shabbat, and what it really means and entails. Namely, that it is so to speak our betrothal or wedding ring of our G-d for us because we who follow His commandments, His Way and keeping the Shabbat, is like a rehearsal for the Festivals, and the Festivals are a rehearsal for the End of Days and Olam Haba. And we are His Bride that the Messiah will come to fetch and take to Olam Haba (*1)
To believers who are familiar with the book of Revelation [Hazon] written by the Jewish apostle John, originally in Hebrew (*2) will be familiar with the concept of ‘the Bride’
And one of the seven messengers …came to me and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come, I shall show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’….and showed me the great city, the set-apart Yerushalayim descending out of the heaven from Elohim…..And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it, for the esteem of Elohim lightened it, and the Lamb is its lamp. And the nations, of those who are saved, shall walk in its light…And there shall by no means enter into it whatever is unclean, neither anyone doing abomination and falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. [Rev.21:9,23,24,27]
And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our Elohim, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” And I heard as the voice of a great crowd, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunders, saying, “Halleluyah, for יהוה El Shaddai reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him praise, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife prepared herself.” And to her it was given to be dressed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousnesses (sic) of the set-apart ones. And he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ “ And he said to me, “These are the true words of Elohim.” [Rev 19:5-9]
Therefore, as it is clearly stated in Revelation 21:8 ‘But as for the cowardly, and untrustworthy, and abominable, and murderers, and those who whore, and drug sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the false, their part is in the lake which burns with fire and Sulphur, which is the second death”- are not part of the Bride. The prophet Jeramiah, in chapters 7, 16, and 25 of his book, points out that because of the sinfulness of Yehuda, them trusting “false words which do not profit – stealing, murdering and committing adultery, and swearing falsely, and burning incense to Ba’al…..in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim I [G-d] shall make to cease the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride….. the land shall become a waste!” [Jeremiah 7:8,9,34]
The Bride will be those that ‘Obey G-d’s voice’, walk in all the ways that He commanded “so that it be well with you” [Jeremiah 7:23]” The prophet Isiah in his book chapter 49, also refers to the bridegroom and Bride that will not be rejoicing because they said יהוה has forsaken them, but on the day of vengeance (the End Times, time of Judgement) of Elohim, those that mourn will be comforted “And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your Elohim rejoice over you” [Isaiah 62:5]
The three Festivals of Pesach [the Redeemer revealed], Shavuot [the Ketuba given] and Sukkot [Yeshua revealed as bridegroom] can be referred to in terms of a typical traditional Hebrew wedding as: The match is made and the gifts are exchanged (Pesach), the Ketuba (*3) is given at Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot is the marriage feast. “The Scriptures teach us that the Father created signs, seasons, days and years as we know it on the fourth day. The word seasons in the original Hebrew is ‘appointed times of festivals’ that is moadim. These festivals are templates of Who the Messiah is, what He would do and when He would accomplish it.” (*4)
For new followers of G-d’s way, His Torah [teachings], these festivals are important to acknowledge and keep because of the deeper meaning of each of these festivals as well as the direct relationship with the Messiah. In fact they are remarkable Shadow images of the first appearance of Yeshua, Yeshua ben Joseph, and the promise of His return as Yeshua ben David (*5), to rule from Zion (Jerusalem). Remember how the quotation from Leviticus referred to here above, clearly states that these festivals are G-d’s festivals and not Jewish festivals as so easily often commonly referred to. See also Exodus 31:13 and Ezekiel 20:12.
1 Pesach
It is quite remarkable how the days and dates of the Pesach festival mirrors the 7 days of what is usually referred to as the Passion week: the triumphal entry of Yeshua into Yerusalem – as the prophet Zechariah prophesized: ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Tsiyon! Shout, O daughter of Yerushalayim! See, your Sovereign is coming to you, He is righteous and endowed with deliverance, humble and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ [Zach 9:9] and the people laid down palm branches and cried out: ‘This is the day יהוה has made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it…Blessed is He who is coming in the Name of יהוה [Ps 118:24,26]- [& see Matt 21:9 and John 12:13]; Thus also the crucifixion and the rising of Yeshua [see the prophecies of Isiah 53:1-12 (*6)and Daniel 9]. See also Talmud: Sanhedrin 98a.
Pesach takes place in the Spring, in what is also called the month of Aviv, meaning Spring, but is today referred to as Nisan, the first month of the year as referred to in Exodus 12:1 This is when the barley grain ripens and therefore the barley is associated with Yeshua, the Messiah, and is the month when he was actually born. [Listen to the excellent explanation at https://youtu.be/ptIsXtTf6nO by Johnathan Cahn]
On the 10th of Nissan [Friday evening to Saturday – see footnote *9], each household had to take an “unblemished lamb or kid, a male …..for examination until the fourteenth day” [Ex 12:1-6] This day co-inside with Yeshua’s entry on a colt into Jerusalem. See now how Yeshua was ‘examined’ and judged the days before his crucifiction – Matthew 21:10-26:5 – as the Lamb was kept for 4 days in the homes of the Israelites in Egypt.
On the evening of Friday 9th Nissan (*7), Yeshua had supper at Beit Te’enah, where Martha served Him and Lazarus, and disciples. He had just raised Lazarus from the death, [See Sanhedrin 98b] after praying out loud to יהוה , in order that the many people surrounding Him, and Martha and Miriam will believe that G-d sent Him [John 11:42] “Therefore many of the Yehudim who had come….believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them what Yeshua did. So the chief priests and the pharisees gathered a council and said, ‘What shall we do? Because this Man does many signs. If we let Him alone like this, they all shall believe in Him, and the Romans shall come and take away from us both our place and nation.’ And one of them, Kayaphas, being high priest that year (*8), said….it is better for us that one man die for the people than the entire nation should perish.’ “ [John 11:45-53] And therefore for days Yeshua was watched and judged by the chief priests and the pharisees. [ See also Matthew 26:57-64 and Talmud: Sanhedrin 98b]
The 14th day of Nissan [Tuesday evening till Wednesday evening] (*9) We read the instruction in Leviticus as commanded to Israel: ‘In the first month on the fourteenth of the month in the afternoon is the time of the pesach-offering to יהוה [Lev 23:5]
After the meal that Yeshua had with His disciples, which is referred to as The Last Supper, He went down to the garden of Gethsemane at night, with His disciples to pray. He was captured there by Roman soldiers and taken to the High Priest Kayaphas and then to the Roman Consul Pontius Pilate, and then to Herod. There he was mocked and hit [see Isiah 53:5 and Sanhedrin 98b ] He was taken back to Pilot and though Pilot found no fault in Him, had Him led away and he was crucified at 9:00 and passed away when the Pesach lambs were sacrificed at 15:00. What is utterly amazing is that at the time that Yeshua died, it is the same day the world over! From the West coast of the US to the East as far as Australia! Therefore His death was literally covering all peoples, all nations.
The Israelites had to paint the lintel and door posts with the blood of the Lamb. It therefore was in the shape of the Hebrew letter ‘chet’ ח which is the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the meaning of 8 is Olam Haba, or the 8th millennium and the Hebrew word חי, ‘chai’ means ‘Life’!
The Hebrews had to eat the Lamb sitting ready to leave with their “loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste, It is the Pesach of יהוה…..And I (G-d) shall pass through the land….I shall execute judgment. I am יהוה And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, And when I see the blood, I shall pass over you, and let the plague not come on you to destroy you…And this day shall become to you a remembrance. And you shall celebrate it as a festival to throughout your generations…an everlasting law.” [Ex 12:11-14] What strikes one in these verses is: the blood that protects them from death [see Ex 12:23], that they had to be ready to go immediately at the call/ command, as the Bride has to be ready when the King Messiah arrives.
When some of the scribes and Pharisees asked Yeshua for a sign to validate who he is and what he is doing, He answered them saying: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Yonah. For as Yonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so shall the Son of Adam be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” [Matt 12:38-40] Therefore, compare now: Yeshua was crucified just before sunset on Wednesday, i.e. Wed-Thurs = day 1; Thurs-Fri = day 2; Fri – Shabbat = day 3. The 3 nights are: Wed, Thurs & Fri, because He rose the night of Shabbat, before sunrise Sunday. [It is a mystery how the RCC and the Christian tradition can count from Friday, that they call ‘good Friday’, till Sunday morning to be 3 days and three nights!]
An Omer of Barley would be cut on the first Shabbat of the Feast of Leaven Bread, that is the 7 days that follow the Passover meal, and be waved as a First Fruit Offering, called The wave of the Omer. This therefore coincides with the resurrection of Yeshua – and is another sign why Yeshua ben Joseph is associated with barley. [Reading Matthew 1:1-17], and counting the forefathers of Yeshua, confirms that He is the first of the 14th generation of redeemed that will be resurrected.] [19:36-38,&56]
He was therefore not crucified on a Friday. It is so strange that the Church throughout the centuries cannot count to 3! No, but there is a reason.
From the start of the 2nd Century, the so called Christian Church, became extremely anti-Jewish, anti-Torah, anti-Shabbat, and anti-Synagogue. [See again chapter 5] By this time more and more gentiles became members of this New Way of Judaism. At first during the days of the Apostles after the Ascension of Yeshua thousands of Jews followed the teachings of Yeshua, and it was then called The Way (*10) and in the Talmud they were referred to as Notsrim. But as more and more gentiles became adherents to this new movement, ego, ambition and avarice and power overcame these men of clay feet that came from pagan traditions. In 115CE Bishop Ignatius exclaimed these new believers should no longer live for the Sabbath but for the so called ‘Lord’s Day’, Sunday. Marcion in 140CE misinterpreted Matthew 5:1 – as many Churches still do today – and said no more Torah study is needed because the Law has been fulfilled. Polycarp in 155CE spoke out against keeping the Pesach and elevated Easter Festivities to be kept by the new believers. Justin Martin in 160CE with his anti-Semitic writings influenced the Replacement Theology that still has influence today.
2 Shavuot
On the First Fruit Offering Festival: “on the morrow of the rest day the Kohen shall wave it (an omer of barley)…You shall count for yourselves – from the morrow of the rest day, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving – seven weeks, they shall be complete….(after) fifty days..you shall bring bread…..first-offerings to יהוה “ [Leviticus 23:10-16] This is then “a holy convocation for yourselves – you shall do no laborious work; it is an eternal decree in your dwelling places for your generations.” [Lev23:21]
This festival commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments to Israel at Mount Sinai. Now Moses went up and down Mount Sinai to fetch the tablets of the commandments, but note the following verse that is known as the Jewish Riddle: “Who ascended to heaven and descended? Who else gathered the wind in his palm? Who else tied the waters in a cloak? Who established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know? [Proverbs 30:4]
After the day of the Ascention of Yeshua, the disciples went to stay in Jerusalem as He told them to, and ‘they were continually in the Set-apart Place (Temple Mount) praising and blessing Elohim’ [Luke 24;53] They were there the time and day of the Festival of Shavuot (which means seven weeks and is also called the Festival of Weeks), when the Shechinah of יהוה appeared, and a rushing mighty wind was heard, and flames of tongues appeared and rested on the Disciples. [See Acts/Ma’Asei 2:1-11] Note! They were in the Temple and not in the socalled Upper Room. (*11) Most of the places where Christian tourists are taken to are not the correct places!
Yeshua Messiah through His teachings revealed the way how to replace hearts of stone, to write G-d’s laws on our hearts and grow into the image of the Messiah who was like in character and deed like G-d and represented our Holy Father and Creator, יהוה on earth– and this is what I have tried to convey in the preceding chapters : ”Carry out My laws and safeguard My decrees to follow them; I am יהוה your G-d. You shall observe My decrees and My laws which man shall carry out and by which he shall live – I am יהוה.” [Lev 18:4] “You shall sanctify yourselves and you will be holy, for I am יהוה your G-d. [Lev 20:7] See also Matthew 5:48.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the Heavens….. I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!’ [Matt 7:21,23]
Yeshua said more than once: “I and My Father are one….believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him [John 10:30,38] This is a Hebraic idiom meaning: we are of one accord.
“In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who possesses My commands and guards them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and manifest Myself to him….if anyone loves Me he shall guard My Word. And My Father shall love him, and We shall come to him and make Our stay with him.” [John 14:20,23](*12)
As it is also written: “My brothers, what use is it for anyone to say he has belief but does not have works? This belief is unable to save him….belief, if it does not have works is in itself dead…Was not Abraham our father declared right by works when he offered Yitshaq his son …For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also the belief is dead without the works.” [Jacob (James) 2:8-26]
Pesach and Shavuot form what is called the Spring feasts. At Pesach we commemorate our Redemption /Deliverance from bondage and slavery; be it pride, wealth, status, whoring etc.- [as the 2nd cup at the Pesach Festival dinner is called] At the one-day Feast of Shavuot, we are reminded of G-d’s Way, His Commandments that we are to keep if we wish to be His Bride and enter His everlasting rest in the After Life which Yeshua confirmed and also taught.
3 Yom Teruha, Yom Kippur, Sukkot – The Fall Festivals
The Fall Feasts consists of 3 parts: Yom Teruah (or the feast of Trumpets), Yom Kippur and Sukkot. These also are linked to a harvest, and at this time, the fruit harvest: e.g. pomegranates, dates and grapes. The hard shell of the pomegranate symbolizes our hard hearts that need to washed by the blood of Yeshua – red pips – and made righteous – white of pips. Grapes or wine symbolizes joy. The fruit harvest also should remind us that our faith and life that is walked in G-d’s Way, should bear fruit.
Yom Teruha
Before His Ascension, Yeshua said that He is going to prepare a place for us: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I shall come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, you might be too.” [John 14:2] So just like in the traditional Hebrew wedding pattern, the groom goes, after the gifts were exchanged and the Ketuba is written, to prepare a place for His bride at his father’s house. And it is not known when he will return to fetch his bride because it depends on his father’s satisfaction of what the groom has prepared and built.
A very well known parable that Yeshua taught is that of the Ten Virgins in Matthew chapter 25. It starts off saying clearly: the reign of the heavens shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise, and five foolish. The five foolish took their 5 lamps but no extra oil with them. “Now while the bridegroom took time, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard, ‘See, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him!’…..And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us of you oil because our lamps are going out… the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. And later the other maidens also come, saying, ‘Master, Master, open up for us!’ But he answering, said, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, because you do not know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Adam is coming.” [Matt 25:1-13]
To understand that this is clearly about the coming of the Messiah at the End of Days we need to look closely at a few details. Firstly, why did they not know when the groom is coming? Yeshua clearly said to his disciples: “..concerning that day and the hour no one knows, not even the messengers of the heavens, but My Father only” [Matt 24:36]. Furthermore, the term ‘that day’ when used in the Tenach, usually refers to the End of Days, and the Day of Judgement and The Lords Day. [See also Talmud: Sanhedrin 99a] Secondly, this parable is about Yom Teruha.
1 Thessslonians 4:13-18 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Master, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Master shall in no way go before those who are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Messiah shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (Bridegroom)
So then encourage one another with these words.” [This is what is known as the Rapture.]
Each Festival is like a Shabbat. One has to prepare and cook for Shabbat. Because Pesach is on the 14th of Nisan, and after the counting of weeks, i.e. 49 days and then knowing when Shavuot the 50th day will be, one knows when to prepare for the Shabbat which is Pesach as well as Shavuot. But, Yom Teruha takes place on the 1st of Tishrei. Because the Hebrew calendar is a solar & lunar calendar, and the months go according to the moon, having 29 or 30 days, one has to actually see the New Moon to know when the month starts. If the new moon is not spotted, then the next day would be the 1st of the new month. That is why Tishrei 1, or Yom Teruha is also known as “The Long Day” and therefore, this feast is kept over 2 days. And in the parable mentioned above, the fact that the 10 virgins fell asleep, and only five wise virgins took additional oil, hints at this: “Now while the bridegroom took time, they all slumbered and slept” [Matt 25:5]
We read in Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” Furthermore, Israel was instructed to be a light unto the world. [Isaiah 44:8 & 49:6] And that is also the meaning of the Menorah in the Temple. Therefor a message regarding the oil the virgins had, is that it had to be sufficient, to shine until the bridegroom comes. If the Messiah is our bridegroom that will come to fetch His Bride of faithful believers that have kept G-d’s word – Torah and its commandments – till the end, shining brightly, then they will partake in the wedding feast and not those that have fallen by the way side or are lukewarm: “He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and not one shuts, and shuts and no one opens [see Isaiah 22:22] says this:….’I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot…So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.” [Revelation 3:7-16]
The arrival of the Messiah when he comes to judge and then take His Bride away, will be announced by heavenly voices and with the shout of G-d’s Trumpet. [See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18]
Then we also read “And in that day it shall be that a great shophar is blown and those …..shall worship יהוה on the set-apart mountain, in Yerushalayim” [Isaiah 27:13 & Sanhedrin 97a] [Here we read about the coming of Mesiah, returning to the earth to be King and rule in Zechariah 14:1-9]
Yom Kippur
It is quite possible that Christians think that Jews only ask G-d for forgiveness on Yom Kippur. That is totally false. The Ethics of the Fathers, which is a well known Tractate of the Talmud, and was compiled by Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who was the redactor of the Mishnah, that is part of the Talmud, gives numerous ethical and moral instructions. The Torah’s standards are very different from the world’s. The Torah “speaks to the total personality. It has been axiomatic since the Patriarch Abraham that sage and saint must be synonymous, that intellect, piety, ethics, and morality are part of an inseparable whole. Judaism is not a compartmentalized creed….In Judaism, to speak of legal authority without moral authority is as ludicrous as accepting the Ten Commandments with the exception of the first one: ‘I am Hashem, your God.’…. The Torah molds total people, not just minds; it defines values, not just norms of performance.” [55.XV]
In Pirkei Avos, we read the following, in a typical Hebraic way of thinking, said by Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus[1st-2nd CE] ‘Repent one day before your death.’ [55.44] Now, no one knows when he will die. Therefore, this dictum said by this well known sage in fact teaches one to do teschuva (*13) every day. In fact three times a day a Jew will pray, and when he or she recites the Shema and the Amidah prayers, they implore G-d to redeem them, to sanctify them with the Commandments, and set them right with good counsel from before His Presence, and save them for His Name’s sake.
At the end of the day it is also custom to review the day’s activities and actions, and pray for forgiveness for what you may have done wrong, by word, deed or thoughts or against your neighbor.
As we read in Psalm 14:1-3 and 53:1-4, as quoted by Paul in Romans 3:10-18: “There is none righteous, no, not one!” Every person has sinned. “For the wages of sin is death but the favourable gift of Elohim is everlasting life in Messiah Yeshua our Master” [Romansj 6:23] The penalty that we should pay for what we have done wrong, was paid in our stead by Yeshua on the cross. Israel was for example sanctified, delivered and redeemed (*14) at the first Pesach in Egypt, and purified, mikved, in the crossing of the Sea.
Sukkot
Five days after Yom Kippur, is the 8 day festival of Sukkot. The first, seventh and eighth days are Shabbat festivals. It is also called the Festival of Booths. Jews then build a Sukkah made of flimsy materials which includes branches as roof covering so that one can see the sky and stars. The meaning of this is a reminder of the Israelites’ forty-year journey through the desert. It also symbolizes our total dependence on G-d and his provision and protection for us.
It also is to remind us of the time when The Messiah will come and be with us. It is therefore a joyful festival when we invite people every day or evening into our Sukkah for a festive meal. The 8th day is also a High holiday or Shabbat. It is as if G-d is not keen for us to take leave and it also is because the deeper meaning of 8 symbolizes Olam Habah, eternity. This again also connects us to the concept of the coming of The Messiah.
This festival is very popular with Christians from many countries. At this festival one sees people from China, Brazil, Holland, Sweden, Africa, Italy, Germany, France, England, Samoa, and many more, in Jerusalem. Why is this? The reason is because of a prophecy in Zachariah: “It shall be that all who are left over from all the nations who had invaded Jerusalem will come up every year to worship the King יהוה, Master of Legions, and to celebrate the festival of Succos. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the land does not go up to Jerusalem to bow down before the King יהוה, Master of Legions there will be no rain upon them…The …plague will come to pass with which יהוה will strike the nations that do not go up to celebrate the festival of Succos.” [Zach.14:16-18]
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From the discussion in this chapter it should be clear that Shabbat is clearly part of these festivals and how to keep them. Shabbat is therefore not only the week’s 7th Day of Rest as G-d has commanded us, but also is intimately part of the festivals that not only reflect the History of the Hebrews, but are prophetic shadow exercises and occasions to remind us of the promise of the Messiah, his appearance and promised coming at the End of Days.
FOOTNOTES
*1 The World to Come. The hereafter… will begin with the resurrection of the dead and a final judgment. The righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished. [38.129]
*2 Watch the interviews with Dr Miles Jones https://aroodawakening.tv/tv-radio/watch-now/shabbat-night-live/?mc_cid=000316ddfd&mc_eid=ac9191cd6b, for Survival of the Hebrew Gospels.
*3 The marriage contract that sets out the obligations between the couple and especially protects the woman.
*4 See The Messiah revealed in the festivals. Preparing the Bride for her Hebrew Messiah. Hebrew Festival Series. DVD [Kolkallah.com]
*5 “Jewish tradition speaks of two redeemers, each one called Mashiach, Both are involved in ushering in the Messianic era. They are Mashiach ben David and Mashiach ben Yossef.” [53.93] See Sukah 52b; Zohar I:25b; ibid.II:120a, III:153b, 246b and 252a; Midrash Agadat Maschiach. Targum Yehonathan on Exodus 40:11; Midrash Tehilim 60:3
“The harmonoy and cooperation between Mashiach ben David and Mashiach ben Yossef signifies the total unity of Israel, removing the historical rivalries between the tribes of Judah and Joseph; see Isaiah 11:13 and Rashi there. (Cf. Bereishit Rabba 70:15)
*6 Rashi [Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki 1040-1105] the esteemed Sage and commentator of the Torah and most quoted, early in his life concurred that Isiah 53 refers to the suffering Messiah, called Messiah ben Yosef, but later in his life, after the cruel murderous actions of the 1st Crusade 1096 who on their way to The Promised Land killed more than 18 000 Jews in three cities along the Rein river in Germany where Rashi lived. He changed his opinion and after that terrible time of persecutions said that Isiah 53 refers to Israel being the Suffering Servant, as Rabbi’s till today do. Isiah 53 was a Haftera reading in the Philips Sidur in England till the 1920’s but has been removed since then. See also Talmud: Sanhedrin 98b and 99a.
*7 In Judaism a day starts at Sunset and ends at the next Sunset. This tradition is from Genesis 1:5 ‘And there was evening and there was morning, one day’ So here we mean the evening of the 9th day of Nisan was actually already the 10th.
*8 Remember the priests and High Priest were ‘political’ Roman appointees. See Johnson [43.111] and Dimont [51.90,91]
*9 It can be exactly calculated when the crucifixion of Yeshua took place because of the following facts to consider: Herod killed 2 priests at the Altar when there was a Lunar eclipse. There was a lunar eclipse 2BCE; Herod died on a fast day of the Jews. Pilot left Yerusalem 36CE, Tiberius recalled him to Rome, but Tiberius died before Pilot got there. John the Baptist was killed by King Herod, and Yeshua ben Yosef’s ministry was only 1 year. [See Rood, 19.48]
*10 See Acts 2:41; and 21:20 and [Richardson 52.76] “It is highly likely that in the predominately secular Jewish Tiberias of the second and early third centuries, members of the local Nazarene community of The Way lived in close proximity to their non-believing Jewish neighbors, with whom they quickly became bonded by their common, uniquely Jewish underpinnings, especially by the rich Jewish traditions they all shared.” [54.86]
*11 Most of the places, especially in Jerusalem, that Christian tourists are taken to, are NOT the actual places where some events of the Brit Chadasha / New Testament took place. Most of these places were decided and pointed out by the pagan Emperor Constantine’s mother.
*12 Yeshua did not say that he is G-d. He said to Satan when He was tempted by him in the desert: “For it has been written, ‘You shall worship יהוה your Elohim, and Him alone you shall serve” – quoting Deuteronomy 6:13. [Matthew 4:10]
“…one came and said to Him, ‘Good Teacher, what good shall I do to have everlasting life?’ And He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One- Elohim.. [Matt 19:16,17] See also: Isaiah 11:2; 53:6; Ps 110:1; Matt 4:10, 19:16; 26:29; Lk 18:19; Jn 5:18,19 Jn 8:26,29,42,50; Jn 12:49, Jn 14:28, Jn 17:11, Jn 20:17 Act 1:7, 7:31, 9:29; Phil 2:6ff; 1Cor 15:57; 2Cor 4:4; 2Thes 3:3ff
*13 Teschuva does not just mean to say you are sorry, to ask for forgiveness. This Biblical concept actually means to show remorse and turn back to the right way that G-d expects you to walk and be according to His Torah.
*14 These refer to 3 of the 4 cups of wine that is drunk at the Pesach meal. The 4th cup is the cup of Restoration, and it is that cup that Yeshua did not drink and said: “I shall certainly not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on till that day when I drink it anew with you in the reign of My Father.” [Matt 26:29]