Teshuva

Shabbat Shalom to all our Mishpatim! (Family)

The beginning of the Sixth month in the Hebrew calendar is at hand. The Babylonian name is Elul. It is during this Sixth month that we solemnly search within ourselves for sin in preparation for the upcoming Day of Atonement. It is believed that it is during this 40 days (1st of Elul to the 10th of Tishri) Yeshua spent his 40 day fast in the wilderness. For those of you who ask the question what would Jesus do? Well, he would spend the next forty days in prayer and fasting to Yahweh. Let's use His example to live by.

Jewish tradition holds that this is a solemn time to look inward, to seek the face of HaShem and ask him to reveal any hidden and unknown sins so that we might turn from those sins, repent (Teshuvah) and cleans ourselves in preparation for the upcoming High Holy Days. We must make compensation to others for sins against our brother and ask forgiveness. Daily, for the entire month, the Priests sound the trumpet at the evening (beginning of the new day) as a warning to return to Yah and repent. With warning it is implied that judgement is forthcoming. The Days of Awe (between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur) represent the days of Jacob's troubles. In the month of Elul, we should remember that we must repent and prepare for the days of Jacob's troubles that we might be protected during that time by the hand of the Almighty. Daily the Priests watched and waited for the next new moon, Yom Teruah, Feast of Trumpets, 'the day that no man knoweth'. On Yom Teruah, the Priests would sound the trumpet 100 times to let everyone know it was the High Holy Days and the beginning of the 10 days of Awe. During the next 10 days, any sin you still hold in your heart must be dealt with, sifted if you will, before the Day of Atonement. I will discuss Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur later. Today, let's look at this month of Elul.

Teshuvah, is from the Hebrew root 'shuv', meaning to return, repent, turn from. Let's look deeper into this word. It is written tav-shin-vav-vet-hey. In the paleo or Hebrew word pictures tav=mark, shin=tooth, vav=nail, vet=house, hey=window. It is interesting that there are 2 /v/ sounds in the word that only has one /v/ sound when it is spoken. One significance of a vav in the midst of a word is that it is nailed, secured, just as our repentance in Yah is secured by a nail that hung him from a tree. This is a common significance throughout the Torah. Looking at the whole word from the paleo perspective we have tav=ownership, to seal, make a covenant, join together, mark or sign. Shin=to devour, to consume, to destroy, something sharp. Vav=to join together (hook), make secure (nail), bound to. Vet (bet)=house or building, tent, a body of someone or something, family or household, inside or within, amid. Hey=window, to show, to reveal, to see or look. Wow! What a revelation! Putting these together...

Make a covenant, come together, joined together and secure, bound to (vav, significance of Yeshua) and reveal what is inside to destroy and devour (sin) - Repentance!

Let's spend this month of Elul returning to the face of Yah asking him to covenant with us and reveal what is inside and destroy the sin, that we might enter the High Holy Days as a spotless bride, and gain protection from tribulation that will sift us as wheat before Yah's return.

Shalom Aleichem!

What Has Yahweh Asked of You?

Before I answer this question, let's look at some things we must conquer in our walk with the Father:

Destroy 7 Nations

Deu 7:1-6 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.

For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

So first we are to utterly destroy the 7 nations and not take mercy or they will turn the people away from Yahweh. Let's take a look at what the names of those nations mean and what we are to fight against when we become believers.

Nations to overcome:

Hittites (Strongs H2845) means terror, fear

We must first destroy fear. Fear stifles us from moving forward and will keep us from conquering any of the other nations that come against us. The enemy uses fear as his first line of defense against us. If the adversary can keep us paralyzed in fear, we will not move and cannot be used. The Father has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind. 2 Tim 4:7

Girgashites (Brown-Driver-Briggs) means a dwelling on clayey soil, weak foundation

Second, we must build a firm foundation, built on the solid Rock, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Torah, the Word made Flesh! The adversary's second line of defense is to deceive us a set us on a brittle foundation. He knows that if our foundation is weak, we will not be able to stand in rough times. Mat 7:26

Amorites (BDB) a sayer, boaster (Strongs H567) publicity, prominence

Amorites were a prideful people. Our third step in our walk must be to overcome pride, boasting, self-importance, seeking attention and recognition. This is one of the biggest tools the enemy uses and loves to use it on believers! Human nature says, 'I am right'. So pride will easily besets us if we are not watchful and consider the workings of the enemy. Pride comes before a destruction. Prov. 16:18

Canaanites (Strongs H3669) humiliated

We must overcome humiliation, debasement, feelings of lack of worth. The adversary will cause you to stop trying by telling you that you are not worthy, capable, nor smart enough to do what the Father is asking of you. He will say that the path before you is too difficult, too big, too everything for you to overcome or complete. He will bring you down and stifle you by making you feel hopeless and helpless, not worthy to fulfill your mission. But the Father, creator of all things says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made! Ps 139:14

Perizzites (Strongs H6522) a breach in the wall of a village

We must overcome the breaches in our wall, the breach of our promise to Yahweh to walk in His way, His commands, His right rulings. The enemy will distract us with small fires, busy-ness, activity, worries. These open breaches in the walls, get us off the path, entice us to other places. We must be 'repairers of the breach' and 'restorers of the paths'. Isa 58:12

Hivites (Strongs H2340) dwellers of the high places, their capitol was on Mt. Ba'al Hermon (Strongs H1179) which means lord of destruction!

We must tear down the high places in our lives, idols, images, pagan symbols, false mighty ones, sports, tv, entertainment, video games, computers, ______ (you fill in the blank). The enemy loves to get us to put other things before our Father! He encourages us to be work-aholics, computer-holics, in love with self, in love with our family more than we love the Creator of all things! We are to fight against the principalities and powers in high places! Eph 6:12

Jebusites (Strongs H2982) trodden down, threshing, desecrate, utterly reject (Greek form tribulum, where we get the word tribulation)

Finally, cast down rebellion. Once we have conquered the first 6, we must utterly destroy rebellion and its affects: destruction, division, evil toward one another, disputings, witchcraft, tribulation. We need to watch the adversary's suggestions of rebellion, they are subtle and start out small, creeping in like a small bit of leaven in the air attaching itself to us and growing without our knowledge! It is our responsibility to clear out the leaven regularly so our soul will not be 'cut off'. Just as the people were to clean the leaven from their houses before the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, we are to clean the leaven out of our lives daily and fill ourselves with the Father's Word. Exo 12:15

So these different 'nations' must be destroyed completely from our lives. Yah gives us a warning.

Deu 7:21 Thou shalt not be frightened at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.

And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

So these changes in our lives, these strongholds, if you will, will not be overcome at once, but gradually, lest the enemy multiplies and comes upon us all at once. Remember if we clean the house and do not refill it, a worse situation will be for that person.(Luk 11:21-26) Father will reveal the enemy to us gradually, we will overcome each 'nation' one by one, and refill, regroup, and prepare for the next battle.

Over and over in these passages in Deuteronomy 7-11 we witness Moses' call to be obedient, to

hear and obey (Sh'ma). Well, as we fight the enemies Yah places before us we must be able to hear Him so that we can obey Him. 1 Kings 19 tells us how to hear the Father. He is the still small voice. But our original question was, 'What has Yahweh asked of you?' How can you know the answer if you don't hear His voice? Now, how do we do this? Well, first of all we start by yielding ourselves completely to Him in all parts of our lives (those steps we discussed above) As we work on each step and listen for the still small voice, seek His face and fill up with His Word, we will begin to hear.

So now let's look at the answer to the question:

Deu 10:12-21 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. (emphasis is mine)

We can sum all these words into two words Hear and Obey, or better yet, one word, 'Shema'. The ultimate promise to us through the Torah Portion this week is that if we Hear and Obey, we will be given the blessings, we will be protected, we will flourish when all else is destroyed.

So, what does the Father ask of us? Only that we Hear and Obey... My question to you is this...

Do you Hear?