CALEB. ka’-leb (kalebh; in the light of the Syriac and Arabic words, the meaning is not “dog,” which is kelebh, in Hebrew, but “raging with canine madness”; Chaleb):
Hebrew, the name is pronounced [kaˈlev]
Strong’s Hebrew: 3612. כָּלֵב (Kaleb) — a son of Jephunneh .
Strong’s Hebrew: 3091. יְהוֹשׁ֫וּעַ (Yehoshua) — “the LORD …
Word Origin. from Yhvh and yasha.
Definition. the LORD is salvation.
The Hebrew name יהושע ( yehoshu’a, Strong’s #3091)
is the combination of יהו ( yeho ),
a short form of the name יהוה (YHWH, Strong’s #3068),
and the verb ישע
( Y.Sh.Ah, Strong’s #3467),
The Hebrew word, יְשׁוּעָה Yeshuah, means
Salvation, or Deliverance.
Its Primitive, 3-letter Verb Root is יָשַׁע Yasha,
meaning to Save, or Deliver.
There are many places in scripture that the number 40 is used; some say 146, others 149 times, in both the Old and New Testaments.
What does 40 mean?
What is its’ symbolism in scripture?
And what can it mean prophetically?
Our Heavenly Father is a God of order. This means He is precise in every detail and has calculated every aspect of the universe since before the beginning of time. Without a way to measure, order is hard to explain.
Order is often expressed numerically, and the Scriptures are filled with numbers. We find the first measure in Genesis 1:5, where the end of the first day is indicated.
Seasons, days, weeks, months, and years are measures used many times.
Distances are also measured, and patterns can be seen as the meaning of all these numbers are examined. These numerical patterns provide insight as to the meaning of these numbers and reveal another layer of understanding to be found in the Scriptures. We are told:
it is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search them out. Prov. 25:2.
It’s up to the reader to pay attention to these numbers and look for their deeper meanings. Interestingly in
Daniel 8:13, Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking,
the then future Messiah is referred to as the Palmonee, sometimes translated as Palmoni, or the Wonderful Numberer.
The name is ” PALMONI ” and it means. ” the numberer of secrets, or the wonderful numberer “.
Hebrew: פלמוני, romanized : Palmōnî
In the Hebrew concordance, Strong’s 6422, it states that ” Palmoni means ” certain “. It derives from ” Peloni “, Strong’s 6423, meaning ” a certain one “. ” Peloni ” derives from ” Palah “, Strong’s 6395 { A primitive root }, meaning ” apart .
Palmoni is Pala which is spelled Pey Lamed Aleph.
Palmoni, a numberer or revealer of secrets, … or Palmoni, which some render “thewonderfulnumberer“; or, “thenumberer of secrets”, or “that has all secrets numbered” (g); and apply it to Christ, whose name is “Pele”, wonderful; the eternal Word of God, that is in the bosom of the Father, and knows all secrets, and the number of times and seasons.
The Hebrew meaning, “thenumberer of secrets, or, the wonderfulnumberer“. “Pali” means “secret” while “pala” means “wonderful” or marvelous; and, “mena/mone” means “to count or number” The mysterious Palmoni of Daniel 8:13 is none other than the Messianic figure of the Old Covenant period–now known as the Son of God, the child born for our salvation–Yeshua, our Messiah.
Unto that certain saint which spake – Margin, Palmoni, or, the numberer of secrets, or, the wondeful numberer. The Hebrew word, פלמוניpalemônı̂y, occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. The similar form, פלניpelonı̂y, occurs inRuth 4:1, “Ho, such a one, turn aside;” in 1 Samuel 21:2, “appointed my servants to such and such a place;” and 2 Kings 6:8, “In such and such a place.” The Italic words denote the corresponding Hebrew word.
The king answered Daniel and said, “Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Daniel 2:47
This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things [unknown and unattainable] that have been hidden [from mankind] since the foundation of the world.” Matthew 13:35
If we are to understand that repeating a thing indicates its’ significance, then considering the number of times 40 appears, it must be very important!
God flooded the earth for 40 days and nights.
Moses fasted for 40 days, and
Messiah was in the wilderness for 40 days.
40 generally symbolizes:
a period oftesting, trial, proving,probation and revealing;
and the
hardships one must endure to become more spiritually aware.
Another way to understand the meaning of 40 is to look at the Hebrew alphabet, which has its roots in pictograms/pictures. Recall from previous posts that each letter has a symbol and a numeric value. Click link below for more details:
The 13th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, (Alef bet), is the letter Mem;
has a numerical value of
40
and is the picture symbol of
water.
The original pictogram for Mem
was a zig-zag pattern that depicts water or chaos.
Although the picture symbol has changed,
today the meaning is the same.
There are many references to the sea in Scripture and used many times, in situations that cause fear or are chaotic. Two examples are the storm that ended with Jonah swallowed by the fish; and when the disciples were caught in the midst of a storm in a boat. Such events with water help us understand the picture of the letter Mem.
While chaos and turmoil are connected with the testing in the two examples, we also see Gods’ Grace as He restored calm.
Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is the Living Water, 40 and Mem mean water and chaos, however He is also the Prince of Peace.
Below are a few examples of where the number 40 is clearly seen in the Scripture and what it may mean.
Moses, Elijah and Jesus each fasted in the desert for 40 days.
It is significant that three of the most important individuals each endured 40 days without food or water as the ultimate test of faith, these fasts were used to reach specific goals.
Moses proved his loyalty to God and received the Ten Commandments/Sayings.
Elijah’s faith was shaken after threats from Jezebel. He went on the run, fleeing to mount Horeb, or the mountain of Elohim, to hear from God. He was fed by an angel and walked 40 days and 40 nights without further sustenance. After 40 days, he heard from God and returned to challenge the priests of Baal which brought an immediate change to the situation in the land.
Elijah gained instruction on how to lead the children of Israel; Messiah Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations, they both passed their tests and in the process gained new insights into the Father’s ultimate plan.
After His baptism, Messiah Jesus was filled with the Fathers’ Holy Spirit and was immediately separated into the wilderness. His compliance showed His instant obedience and reminds us of the need for fasting and prayer in our lives. Messiah Jesus/Yeshua fasted from both food and water for 40 days and nights and He overcame the devil when He was tempted afterward.
Likewise, today we will face temptations and difficulties. Father’s Holy Spirit may call us to prepare for 40 days before a challenging time. We may even be tested and tempted for 40 days or go through a trial for 40 days as our Savior did.Luke 4:2Messiah told us He was leaving so He could give the Gift of His Holy Spirit to us as a helper through such times. Messiah set us an example so that we could know how to overcome our challenges.
The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years:
After being freed from Egypt, Moses and the Israelites needed direction. Our Heavenly Father planned for them to go to the Promised Land, this was only possible after the whole generation of those who’d doubted His plan had died. The Hebrews had to travel through the wilderness, living on God’s daily provision of manna, for 40 years, due to the unbelief in their hearts. Only when the last of that generation had died did He allow His people to enter the promised land. This clearly shows that sometimes to fully reveal God’s divine will, patience is necessary. Despite this testing, He provided for them faithfully. They always had food, protection, and their provisions had a supernatural lifespan.
The prophet Ezekiel was instructed by God to lay on his left side for 390 days and his right side for 40 days to “bear the iniquities” of Israel and Judea (respectively). Ezekiel 4:4-8. The days corresponded to the number of years each kingdom insulted the name of God through wickedness and rebellion. Ezekiel suffered greatly, but his insights helped prepare the Israelites for the coming of Messiah Jesus.
The three great Hebrew kings, Saul, David and Solomon, were each recorded to have ruled for 40 years. This is significant because 40 years is considered by many as a biblical generation; meaning: a new group of Israelites rises up, sustains itself, then dies out. For the 3 kings, this measure of time also serves as a warning as 20 years of their rule was marked by prosperity and 20 years by ruin. It highlights the Prophet Samuel’s misgivings over inducting kings in the first place: as eventually, they’ll take from the people more than they give.
The above examples and context of the number 40, gives us clues regarding the meaning. As 40 is a mark of a generation, it doesn’t refer to how long a person lives but indicates changes are made after this time period. This principle is seen when many kings ruled for 40 years those above and also Rehoboam.
Goliath was a giant Philistine soldier who took pleasure in taunting and humiliating the Israelites. The Philistine and Israelite armies stood on opposite sides for 40 days. A new Hebrew champion would come out each day to meet Goliath face-to-face, only to be destroyed. After 40 days, a young shepherd from Bethlehem, named David, was sent by God to defeat the Philistines, this began a new chapter for the children of Israel bringing solidarity to the kingdom.
40 is connected to change.
The change can occur quickly, sometimes it is very unpleasant and at other times, the change is a process which takes years.Perhaps how quickly the change happens for us to come in line with God’s plan depends on our obedience. In Davids case, he believed God would give him victory over the giant; so the change came immediately when David chose to believe God’s promise.
Another well known 40 is in the story of Noah. Because the sins of humanity had become too great, God called Noah to build an ark that could hold two of every living creature on earth, as well as his own family. God flooded His earth for 40 days and nights. When Noah and his family found dry land once again, our Heavenly Father made a covenant with Noah promising that He would never completely flood the Earth again. By doing this a level of trust was restored that had been lost since Eden.
Some more references to 40:
The bible was written by 40 different people.
The Holy Place of the Temple Sanctuary was 40 cubits long.
The rains fell in Noah’s day for 40 days and nights. Genesis 7:4
Israel ate manna and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.Exodus 16:35
Moses was with God on the mountain, 40 days and nights, without eating bread or water. Exodus 24:18, 34:28
The spies searched the land of Canaan for 40 days. Numbers 13:25
40 lashes (stripes) was the maximum whipping penalty. Deuteronomy 25:3
God allowed the land to rest for 40 years.Judges 3:11, 5:31, 8:28
Abdon, a judge in Israel, had 40 sons. Judges 12:14
Israel did evil; God gave them to an enemy for 40 years.Judges 13:1
Eli judged Israel for 40 years. 1 Samuel 4:18
The holy place of the temple was 40 cubits long. 1Kings 6:17
Elijah had one meal that gave him strength for 40 days. 1 Kings 19:8
Joash reigned 40 years in Jerusalem.2 Kings 12:1
Egypt to be laid desolate for 40 years. Ezekiel 29:11-12
God gave Ninevah 40 days to repent. Jonah 3:4
Goliath presented himself to Israel for 40 days. 1 Samuel 17:16
Saul reigned for 40 years. Acts 13:21
Ishbosheth (Saul’s son) was 40 years old when he began to reign. 2 Samuel 2:10
David reigned over Israel for 40 years.2 Samuel 5:4, 1 Kings 2:11
Solomon reigned the same length as his father, 40 years. 1 Kings 11:42.
Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. Acts 13:21
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years. 2 Samuel 5:4
Ezekiel bore the iniquity of the house of Judah for 40 days. (Ezekiel 4:6)
Jesus fasted 40 days and nights. Matthew 4:2
Jesus was tempted 40 days.Luke 4:2, Mark 1:13
Jesus remained on earth 40 days after the resurrection. Acts 1:3
Our Heavenly Father gives us types and shadows, or symbols, as warnings and precursors of the real event for that day and time and for later generations. The example of the Hebrew children wandering in the desert for 40 years after Moses was being given the Torah/Law/Teaching/10 Commandments for them, by God.
Moses was raised and educated for 40 years in pharaoh’s household. After murdering the Egyptian, Moses himself was exiled for 40 years. He was forced to learn a completely different lifestyle in Median to prepare him for the next 40 years until the encounter with the burning bush.
The last 40 years of his life required the preparation from the previous two 40 year seasons.
1500 years later, Messiah spent 40 days in the wilderness prior to the start of His ministry and eventualatoning death at Calvary. He spent 40 days on earth after the resurrection. The new believers and disciples received His Holy Spirit at Pentecost/Shavuot and all were given 40 years to accept the Fathers gift of grace, then,in AD 70 the Roman destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, judgment came upon the those who would not believe.
Now to connect the number 40 with Joshua and Caleb who were 2 out of 603,550 that left Egypt! This surely is a remnant!
(Numbers 26 is a similar numbering to Numbers 1)
Numbers 13 begins an insight into the life of Caleb
when he is aged 40!
Josh 14:7 records:
“40 years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart”.
The last time we hear of Caleb is at age 85 in Joshua 14. This is a kudos to Calebs integrity and the example of his consistent faithfulness throughout those 45 years. There is no reference to any word of complaint from him, which is commendable considering the fact that he waited for his inheritance wandering with the faithless generation for 38 years in the wilderness. Both Joshua and Caleb were sustained by the Lord through the consequences of the peoples unbelief.
Caleb was a living testimony to the absolute certainty of the promises made by God, as well as a consistent example of faith. Our Heavenly Father kept Caleb as a continual witness to the children of Israel, preserving him as a testimony to the faithfulness of His Word. He is mentioned throughout the record as a witness:
Numbers 26:65 “For the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun”.
Numbers 32:11-12 “Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land…Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord”.
Deuteronomy 1:35-36 “Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord”.
Caleb had another spirit!
The spying mission had not altered Caleb’s outlook, because his reaction was, to go up and possess.
He was embracing the command of God to possess the land! Later in his life, Caleb made the statement: “Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart” Josh 14:7.
Again, the different spirit of Caleb is clearly demonstrated in what he says here. He does not report according to the sight of his eyes, but according to his faith in God’s power. It is not based upon sight, nor perception, nor according to the thinking of others, but according to his own understanding of God’s promises. It was a report based on faith, not fear. He wanted to go ahead immediately in full assurance of God’s good deliverance.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb. 11:1
Sometime we find that in our own lives we can be reluctant to do anything at once/immediately, preferring to procrastinate to wait and see instead. This putting off and delaying, could take place within our own lives, where we have identified an issue, sin, but are reluctant to take action to correct it.
Within the Word of God, Caleb is portrayed as an example of one who is consistent because he had a different spirit and it is surely an example for us.
Caleb, his different spirit, and the very important fact that
he wholly followed the Lord his God.
If something needs correcting in our lives and there needs to be a change for the better; then there is sometimes a need for an immediate/at once kind of action. It is in these times we can show this spirit of immediate obedience, and as in the case of Caleb we will without hesitation... wholly follow the Lord our God.
Caleb was also an example to the nation of Israel, particularly to the tribe of Judah into which he had been absorbed. This spirit in Caleb not only motivated him, but it also had a positive effect on all of Judah, it affected Othniel, and Caleb’s daughter Achsah, to take hold of their inheritance.
Concerning the report given by the spies, the issue was not the accuracy of the report and the facts were certainly very clear and real.The issue was whether the spies were seeing with their eyes of the flesh or with their eyes of faith and although the report was a true one, it was not a faith-filled one. The conclusions made by the 10 spies were completely different from those of Joshua and Caleb.
They all had knowledge, but the knowledge they had gained did not automatically lead to faith and the same could be said for us. Just because we read the Scriptures, it does not mean we automatically become faithful servants; in the same way attending weekly meetings doesn’t prove our will is in line with the Father’s will. The Scriptures must both be read and acted on so that our hearts and minds are affected by its inerrant power and only then our own personal desire will line up to godly principles. Transformation can only occur as we begin to line up our thoughts and desires to our Heavenly Father’s way of thinking, doing and being.
Calebs different spirit is seen in a number of ways.
He was:
A gentile willing to join the children of Israel no doubt when the nation was still in Egypt.
Well-known and respected among the people.
A wise man who did not fear man, he feared God.
More faithful than many of the natural children of Israel.
Able to give a report not out of fear but according to faith.
He employed his eye of faith and not just the eyes of his flesh.
and he was convinced of the promises made to Israel and to the patriarchs.
Compared to the world around us, we should all like Caleb, have another spirit.
Even though we might be thought of as weird, peculiar, and different in the worlds eyes, being different in this way is a good thing. We need to express a lifestyle that has godly principles, by working hard, being honest and upright in all we do. Sometimes our very stance on certain issues and politics can make us stand apart, especially when we are asked to explain our scriptural view and it can feel that we are quite alone, and that the majority is against us.
This is an opportunity to show that we stand with those like Caleb.
If Calebs example is to teach us anything, it seems that having a different spirit is something our Heavenly father encourages! He looks for those who would stand apart from worldly ways, He seeks those who do not see only with eyes of flesh.
Instead, we should be like Caleb, confident in that which we cannot see, for us it may be the promises which have not yet happened. Instead of us trying and wishing to fit in with the norm, by way of topics of conversation, local social events etc., etc. we need to be like Caleb…different…
We should keep our language clean, the topics of our conversation should remain wholesome and the things of the Lord should be preferred over work events. By choosing to set ourselves apart from the world we will have the opportunity to stand with our Lord and with the multitude of His bride/ecclesia/set-apart saints in the Day of Judgment. Those who have followed a different spirit during the times of their testings and trials.
Numbers 14:24 Caleb had a different spirit in him and has followed me fully. And his descendants shall inherit the land.
When we pray and expect answers are we fully ready for what will follow because answered prayers always bring new challenges.
Imagine if all the prayers prayed were answered all at the same time? Yes there would be rejoicing however, there would also be new added responsibility.
With any crisis, there are always changes.
Solomon prayed and asked for wisdom and we too should not only ask for things according to our Fathers will, but also that our hearts will be strengthened to receive, plus that we be given added wisdom for all that follows. It is possible we have seen some people succeed only to end in failure. This happens when individuals seek outer blessings and their inner spiritual strength is neglected, revealing the difference between the carnal and spiritual life. The Hebrew children saw God’s glory, signs and miracles and yet they tested Him 10 times and did not listen to His voice. Because of disobedience and rebellion, not all those who treat our Heavenly Father with contempt will see the promised land/eternity.Verse 26 calls them evil, they grumbled and complained and they died in the wilderness bearing the consequences of their idolatry.
Caleb was not the only faithful spy. When we read Joshua 11:21-22 and the summary of the conquest of the land, we see Joshua as well as Caleb. Both of these men drove out the Anakims, defeating them. What they had believed over 38 years earlier was coming to pass!
It was in Hebron that the spies in Numbers 13:22 saw the Anakims, and it is Hebron Caleb longs to take in victory. Moses swore to Caleb that he would receive the land “whereon thy feet have trodden”Josh 14:9. Caleb trod all over the hill country of Hebron and he was now going to be given the very places he so longingly desired.
Caleb would lead them in the battle; his confidence is the same as it was 45 years earlier. He believed that God could still use him.
In all of this there is a lesson for us:
We should look to the consistent example of those elders in the body of Christ, the ecclesia and our local assembly of believers, we should value their faith, listen to their wise teachings, respect their experience and follow their example. Look how the faith of one person can inspire a generation as it did with Caleb. Let’s not be restricted by our generational age categories but instead, take the time to speak to those who are older, those who have weathered the storms of life and understood the deep things of God because they will not always be around. There is a lesson here also for the older ones amongst us, to continue the work of the Truth while there is strength in our bodies, and that retirement from a paying job or career doesn’t necessarily mean retirement from the work of the gospel of His Kingdom of Truth.
So there is a connection between the number 40, Caleb and Joshua but what about a candle?
Joshua 14:8: “Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God.”
the heart of the people melt
hearts melted In Hebrew: himesin ‘eth lev
את לב המסיו
Hei Mem Samek Yod Vav Aleph Taw Lamed Bet
In Hebrew the meaning is:
melting hearts…as in a candle melting –
candle hearted…. lev mashak.
The 12 spies were sent out to scout out the Promised Land.
10 returned with a bad report and a recommendation that they not enter the land due to an overwhelming display of power.
Only 2 spies, Joshua and Caleb said:
“God gave us the land, let’s go get it.”
The report of the 10 spies made
the heart of the people melt.
But not so with Joshua and Caleb
The word melt is masah
which is used in a Hiphal form
himesin (hi me sin)
and literally means
to cause to flow down.
Some modern translators will insert the word fear in here
to indicate that the people were
overcome with such fear, that their hearts melted.
That is a part of it, but not all of it. Another use of the word
masah is melt
which is a picture of
a candle with a bright flame being fueled by the wax.
Once the wax has melted the flame has gone out.
It wasn’t just fear;
it was the final melting of the wax that held the flame of their expectations alive.
This candle had been melting since the beginning of their journey.
The wax of this candle was made of:
self-sufficiency,
pride,
and an expectation of comfort and security.
Their journey was anything but easy. They faced fear of starvation, thirst, poisonous snakes, invading armies, disease, etc. God delivered them, but they were getting tired of it all.
Their wax was melting.
Now when they were about to reach their final destination, to finally receive their reward for all the struggles in the wilderness, what did they find out? Indeed it was a land of milk and honey, but it was also a land full of giants.
There is a limit to every one’s endurance, everyone has a breaking point.
For the children of Israel this was that breaking point. Although this final challenge wasn’t much different than previous challenges where they had faced certain death due to starvation, thirst or even attacks from enemies armies. They’d seen water come from a rock and manna/food from heaven, and a sea divided to deliver them from pharoahs armies. Now they are told there are giants in the land, but the only difference is that now they had a choice whether to go forward or not.
Their candle wax was made of selfish desires and was not filled with the desire for God, for His will and plan and purposes. In the past they had had no other choice but to depend upon Him when they needed water, food or deliverance. Now they had a choice, would they could once again face an impossible situation and trust in God?
Yet, when Joshua relates this story he says:
“I wholly followed the Lord my God.”
The word follow/followed is NOT in the Hebrew text,
all there is, is the word:
mala’ti
which literally means:
to be completely filled.
Joshua was saying: I was completely filled with God.
Unlike the people who let their flame of faith and hope go out, Joshua’s flame only got stronger. His wax was not in the arm of the flesh but in a heart completely filled with God.
Such wax will never melt and the flame will only grow brighter.
To Joshua, this last test, the final trial was not another obstacle to the Promised Land; it was another opportunity to see the power of God, this time by his own choice.
While the Israelites had all the skills required to run a nation which they had gained from their time in Egypt, they really had no faith and trust in the covenant God had made with them. Instead they trusted their inability to conquer the land! They forgot just Who the great “I AM” really was/is… Isn’t this also true today for some believers, who have little to no understanding of the covenant they have been given with Messiah Yeshua/Jesus and how, if we are obedient to His covenant, He will provide, protect and be with us all of the time?
Our hearts should bear witness with this because if we give our Heavenly Father the glory, it’s impossible to lose. The fact that our Heavenly Father made a covenant with Himself is because only He is able to keep one perfectly. When our faith is in His Covenant, we please Him and then we can rest, knowing we are always protected and provided for.
The number 40 was also used prophetically in God’s Word, and because of that, we must believe that it holds significance today for us. The inhabitants of Nineveh were given a warning with a testing time frame of 40-days and the punishment on the city was held back because of the Grace of God giving them time to repent.
In Luke 11:30, Yeshua/Jesus points out that as Jonah was a warning to Nineveh, for 40 days, so will He Himself be the warning to His generation. As He stated it in the present tense, the word generation is again a reminder of the number 40.
Surely this is a warning to every generation, including ours, to turn/teshuvah, from all evil and wickedness and live a life of repentance, in harmony with the will of our Heavenly Father.
Sin in our life may or may not be evident to other people. It may be a sin of fear, doubt and unbelief; however, if we will turn to Him with a humble, repentant heart, He is faithful to forgive us and care for us in every way.
Messiah came to warn us and also to show us He is the One Who can calm the chaos of the waters, the MEM, and all our lifes’ stormy circumstances. Sometimes the duration of our situation depends on us and how long it takes us to totally trust that He is faithful to His Word.
Continuing today, our Heavenly Father tests His children and many times, as in the account of Job, this testing is not always for correction or punishment; it is to see if His children will remain obedient to His Word, if they will seek Him and still praise Him even in the chaos and storms of life.
And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. Deut. 8:2.
7 so that the [a]proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and [b]full of glory,9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of [c]your souls. 1Pet.1:7-9
Faith is not faith until it is tested!
A faith that is not tested cannot be trusted.
If we are in the middle of a fiery trial or a time of testing, don’t grow weary or faint and don’t give up; because our Heavenly Father may not be chastising or disciplining us. He may instead be testing us to see just how strong our faith and trust in Him really is, both for Him and for ourselves to know! This is a great opportunity to pray for our brothers and sisters in Messiah, that we can all pass the tests presented before us; and stay obedient to our Father, keeping our trust in Him unshaken by whatever we may experience in the natural realm.
The scriptures tell us clearly that we’ll have times of trials, tests, sufferings, and we may be wandering in a spiritual wilderness for awhile; and we are to:
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
2 Cor.13:5.
Rest, peace/shalom is coming; the true rest, peace/shalom, that is found when we put our trust/faith in Messiah Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach.
For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1:2-3
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12
Our Heavenly Father is always in the midst of the test and there is always an end to it and He promises…
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Cor. 10:13.
There does seem to be a connection between the number 40, Caleb, Joshua and a candle: 40 being the years of testing the faith of both Joshua and Caleb, who were the only 2 who passed the test because their hearts were not like candles, they did not masah/melt in the face of seemingly overwhelming obstacles. Their faith /trust was also a living testimony to the surety of the promises made by God.
Let’s not have Melting Hearts – Lev Mashah – לב מה but rather..
Let that same spirit be in you Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Phil. 2:5-11 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind, or self-control, discipline, and sound judgment 2.Tim. 1:7.
Let’s be like Caleb …of a different spirit…
faithful, whole-hearted, bold and brave.
שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם,
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim and mishpachah!
Peace to friends and family.
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,
SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
The book of Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus/Yeshua
This post is not intended as an in depth study, this is a look at the next woman in the line of 5.
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by
TAMAR,
and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,[a]4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon
,5and Salmon the father of Boaz by
RAHAB,
and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth,
and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon bythe wife of Uriah, Bathsheba
7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,[b]8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,[c] and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,[d] and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of
Miryam/Mary,
of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
Rahab in Hebrew:
רָחָב
Rachab
Rahab; meaning: broad, large;
From the verb רחב (rahab), to be wide or spacious.
This courageous woman is really the second in line, as from Genesis; remembering we highlighted Mary/Miryam first even though she is the last one mentioned in the scripture.
Rahabs’ story begins in the book of Joshua, the children of Israel were ready to take possession of the land they had been promised after they had been in the wilderness for 40 years.
Moses’s successor Joshua send two spies secretly to check out the first City of Jericho. Joshua 2:1 tells as they came to a house of a woman named Rahab.
“And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there”
Joshua 2:1.
The scripture says she was a harlot, or prostitute.
But was she really?
Three times Rahab is referred to as
the harlot,
the Hebrew term zoonah,
and the Greek word porne
these words have never meant anything else but
harlot
dictionary defined as:
a woman who yields herself indiscriminately to every man approaching her.
Some branches of Jewish tradition emphasize Rahab as an innkeeper, who, may or may not have found other ways of bringing in revenue, as she was a businesswoman.
The Hebrew word, zōnâ, is interpreted in the Septuagint as pórnē.
The women are designated in the Hebrew text as zōnōṯ (זוֹנוֹת), which is the plural form of the adjective zōnâ (זוֹנָה), prostitute. However, some propose a different meaning for this word in the context of the story, such as:
tavern owner or innkeeper.
Below an example of a medieval tavern/inn.
The Hebrew zōnâ may refer to secular or cultic prostitution, and the latter is widely believed to have been an invariable element of Canaanite religious practice, although recent scholarship has disputed this. However, there was a separate word, qědēšâ, that could be used to designate prostitutes of the cultic variety, (referenced in Part 2).
Another example of the use of this word is in the story of Samson; (Hebrew: שִׁמְשׁוֹן , Shimshōn, man of the sun); showing it can also symbolize the fickle love and loyalty shown by the children of Israel. His night with the prostitute (זנה zōnâ) recalls God’s charge against the Israelites for prostituting (זנה zānâ) themselves with all manner of foreign gods in spiritual unfaithfulness, fornication and adultery.
Judges 12-16.
It may very well have been that Rahab was a religious prostitute in connection with the canaanite pagan practices.
The Hebrew term
bayith-ishahah
בּיִת אִשָּׁ֔ה
The Hebrew word for woman is אִשָּׁ֔ה
(ishshah, also transliterated ishah).
It normally means woman, female, or wife.
The Hebrew word for house is בּיִת bayith (beit/beth/bet)
Phonetic Spelling: (bah’-yith) a house, a. dwelling, habitation.
so
bayith-ishahah
literally means:
house woman,
could also mean innkeeper.
The word translated harlot, zona
from the root word zanah,
which normally means: to act as a harlot or commit fornication; could also indicate a woman who had legitimate commercial associations with men.
It was probably a rowdy place, frequented by unscrupulous and idle men. Notoriously bars, and red light districts have often functioned as infamous meeting places for military and other forms of espionage.
So, we should not be surprised that Joshua’s spies knew to go to Rahab’s Place. It is possible that the men hid there because people would be accustomed to seeing strangers come and go at all hours of the night. So their arrival would not have been suspicious.
Picture above: The city itself was surrounded by an inner and an outer wall, as most cities were at the time above, a picture of a reconstruction, of ancient Jericho, with outer and inner walls, walls in bad repair, and houses/rooms built into the outer wall itself; the collapsed walls made it much easier for Joshua and the Israelites to gain access to the city.
The outer walls surrounded the whole city, protecting it from foreign intruders. The inner wall enclosed a central administrative compound for palace, temples, and large-scale food storage. Wealthier people lived in the central compound. Apparently, those considered, poor and disreputable people (like Rahab) lived in the outer compound, between the two walls. They could be filled with earth in times of siege to make a strong defense against battering rams and similar siege engines. They also formed an inner ring road circling the town, in several Palestinian cities houses were built up along it close to the inner wall, and the inside of the wall used for storage or housing.
This would explain why they lodged/stayed in her house as it was an inn where people would stay when they came to the city, it was situated right by the walls, probably close to the city entrance with easy access and why it was in, as in attached/built into, the city wall which were up to 60feet/20 metres thick.
Houses had flat roofs, often shaded with a thick woven cloth; women used this space as a work and storage area.
Other occurrences of words from the root word zanah (nearly 100), are clearly meant to imply physical or spiritual harlotry. Again this kind of harlotry often referred to worshiping false idols and foreign gods and was often termed adultery meaning unfaithfulness to the one true living God.
The New Testament/Brit Chadashah, associates the word porne with Rahab. Interesting as that is the beginning of our word for pornography which we usually shorten to the word porn.
This word porne in Greek means prostitute as in Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25, however again, it can refer to spiritual unfaithfulness.
But that’s not all, Rahab was also a Canaanite, who were the hated enemies of Israel.
The grace of God can transform lives,
however sinful,
however seemingly impossible,
often taking the most unlikely of candidates for His purposes to be fulfilled and revealed!
Paul was a great example calling himself the chief of sinners 1Timothy 1:15
We need to remember that in
Ephesians 1:4-6we are accepted in the beloved because of the sacrificial blood of Jesus/Yeshua.
Why?
Because
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world!
Their lives became endangered when the king heard about them, when, during the night there was a banging on the door of her inn. When she answered, two soldiers stood there.
They were looking for Hebrew spies and the men sent to seize the spies asked Rahab to bring them out.
Stalks of flax drying.
Instead, Rahab covered them under bunches of flax on the roof, protecting them from being captured
and she said to the spies:
“I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. “Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.” Joshua 2:9-13
Joshua means ‘Yahweh/God is my salvation’
Rahab lied when asked where they were, telling the inquirers..
vrs 4-5
sending them on a wild goose chase in the wrong direction.
Vrs 9,11-14
seem to indicate that she had come to believe in the God of Israel.
Rahab recognized the God of Israel.
She trusted in Him for the righteousness she could not produce in her own life!
Click link below for more on the Biblical meaning of the color scarlet.
When Joshua ordered the attack against the city and Jericho fell, because of Rahab’s agreement with the spies she and her entire family were saved.
Meanwhile the two men were still in mortal danger, trapped in a hostile city.
The resourceful Rahab took care of that too.
Maybe her house had small rooms, which were enough to house a family, built into the otherwise solid mass of the city wall.
One of these rooms must have had a window large enough for a man to pass through, and she, presumably with some help from her family members, let the two men down on a rope through this window to the ground below.
She told them to escape into the hills and stay there for three days, by which time the coast would be clear.
15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”
After escaping, the spies agreed to spare Rahab and her family after conquering the city, even if there were to be a slaughter
IF
she would mark her house by hanging a red/scarlet cord out of the window.
This was just a beginning because she was then joined by marriage into the tribe of Judah and her family were included among the Jewish people and Rahab became a part of the genealogy of the Messiah, Yeshua/Jesus.
In the chart below we see that Salmon was destined to become great, great, grandfather of King David.
He married Rahab, their child was called Boaz,
he in turn became Ruth’s husband.
All the people in the genealogy of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua show the grace and mercy of God in lives down through the generations.
Boaz, her son, was one of the main characters we read about in the book of Ruth, and it’s clear that Rahab had raised a very godly son. He was a wealthy well respected businessman who was a righteous man; being a leader in the town of
Bethlehem in Judea!
He showed great compassion concerning Ruth’s situation, even though she was a downtrodden foreign widow.
Rahab would have had no idea what the future impact of her decision to help the spies sent by Joshua would be. In fact it is true to say the future of the world was at stake!
The faith and courage of a canaanite woman saved herself and her entire family. She was a pagan idol worshipper and yet she became inserted directly into the genealogy of God’s Beloved Son. There is no reference to her raising Boaz in the Scriptures; to those who serve the Lord in ways that the world cannot see; it is an encouragement that the Lord sees and He rewards every act of devotion and service in His Will, plan and purpose.
It is not normal practice for families to hang skeletons on their front doors for everyone to see, scandals are normally kept hidden in the closet; yet here in scripture we have the facts for all to read.
Whether Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute, or an inn keeper; Our Heavenly Father chose her to become part of the genealogy of our savior; to be included in the Royal line of Israel’s Messiah Matthew 1:1 -6, remembering that this gospel was originally intended for Jewish readers.
Rahab left a red cord at her window to save herself and her family. There are echoes here of the red blood on the doorways of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, when the Angel of Death passed over their house so that the family within was safe.
This was a condition of attaining her salvation just as the blood on the door posts of the Israelites and also for every believer the blood of Messiah is our scarlet cord of redemption IF we will accept His conditions.
Joshua the agent of her deliverance was a type and shadow of Jesus/Yeshua, the meaning also in their name; plus the fact he was the first of a generation to step into the promised land.. we too are on our WAY into the promised land…Messiahs blood on the doorposts of our hearts.
Here on the first page of the Brit Chadashah/New Testament in Matthew, she is clearly in Jesus/Yeshuas’ genealogy placed here as a respected member of Israel and in Hebrews 11:31 she is raised as an example together with the great people of faith.
James associates her with the faith of Abraham whose willingness to sacrifice His son is probably one of the greatest examples of faith in Hebrew Scriptures. In both the references the true nature of faith is reflected Rahab’s actions.
We may wonder how her lie James 2:25 could be considered justified by works. Rahab did what she probably had done hundreds of times to protect herself, she was a very new believer and although it was wrong, according to the 10 Commandments; we all continue the process of Gods transformation by His grace and mercy, and as we mature we throw off the habits that are in direct contradiction to the Word of God.
James was not talking about the faith that saves us from sin but the faith that delivers and saves us from failing the test in trials that come in every believers life. Those trials which is the testing of our faith is how we react to the situation.
It would seem that Rahab was being shown to be already righteous because she received the messengers and sent them out another way James 2:25 she had already acknowledged to God of Israel as the God in heaven above and on the Earth beneath.
Joshua 2:11
The Greek word for justify is used in 2 ways one is
to declare righteous, dikaioo, in
Romans 3:23-24; 27 – 30.
There’s a second meaning in Luke 7:29 and James 2
to show to be righteous.
Genesis 22
Abraham was shown to be already righteous because he was
willing to sacrifice Isaac
so he was declared righteous by God.
Interesting after the events at Jericho, Rahab is not mentioned again in the Tenach, the final Scripture concerning her is in Joshua 6:25 and the Tenach does not indicate her fate. so the only direct reference to her inclusion in the royal lineage comes in Matthew chapter 1 although the Jewish genealogy do mention the family into which she married they never mentioned her specifically.
Whatever Rahab was before Israel crossed into the land of the Canaanites, she became someone new in the promised land.
For Rahab believed.
She not only believed in God but she also acted.
For Rahab trusted in the God who fulfilled the covenantal promise to Abraham, that he would be given land from which would bring a nation, and a descendant, who would bless the earth.
And we must always remember that this woman, Rehab, was chosen by the Creator of His universe to be a chosen instrument in bringing about salvation to the ends of the earth.
“And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way” James 2:25
Rehab became a central, strategic figure of incomparable courage as she helped Israel to enter the promised land and subdue her own people.
When the army of Israel entered Canaan,
Rahab acted
according to a prearranged plan and
hung out a scarlet cord from her window.
Thus, she and her family were saved.
It is significant that a scarlet cord, likely, an emblem of ill-repute, became a sign of salvation. In the same way it is a beautiful thought that it is a scarlet cord of the covenant of God’s grace that binds all of the Word of God together; and in Messiah Yeshua/Christ Jesus, the blood-stained, crimson cross of shame became the gleaming symbol of faith hope and salvation for whosoever will.
Rahab’s faith in Israels’ God engrafted her into a new family.
Rahab’s husband is chronicled in both the Old and New Testaments
1Chronicles 2:10-11,Ruth 4:20-21, Matthew 1:4-5 and Luke 3:32
The woman who had been called a harlot became a godly wife and mother in Israel. She and her husband became the parents of a boy named Boaz. And that boy would one day marry a widow woman by the name of Ruth. Ruth 4:5,10.
Thus, as God worked all things together for the good, using the humble and the most unlikely,
God raised up a harlot to become the great-great-grandmother of King David.
From the line of Rahab came the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world, our God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no more touching story of God’s glorious grace than the genealogical introduction to the birth of Yeshua/Jesus by faith through the line of Joseph in the first chapter of Matthew. Among the many stories that are interwoven in that wonderful section of the Bible, the woman of the scarlet cord takes her honored place.
If we ask how could Almighty God, the Holy God of heaven, use sinners like us? We need look no further than the woman with the scarlet cord, the relative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ/Yashua HaMashiach.
She is not remembered for her sin.
She is remembered for the remarkable transformation in her life
and her womb/racham, became a carrier of His line.
Rahab – one of five chosen in a line unbroken…
The word harlot is undoubtedly repeated so that we will know that whatever we have done…. God will forgive us if we come to Him by faith in His Son Jesus/Yeshua. Rahab is the ever-present message of God to each of us:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” 2 Cor.5:17
This genealogy is in the Bible to let us know that He had forebears with backgrounds a lot like ours.
He called himself the friend of sinners, and He said He
didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
He said,
The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost Luke 19:10
The same grace that Rahab experienced is now available to each and every one of us.
Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek the Lord while He may be found, call you upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Shalom, shalom, mishpachah!
You are loved and appreciated and prayed for daily.
Please don’t leave this page without the knowing in your heart you are totally His.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
Its all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.
the location was so significant for the reason that it was where Joshua, a type of Mashiach/Messiah, had brought the children of Israel to reaffirm their covenant now they had entered into the promised land; the same covenant that Moses originally made with God for the Israelites on Sinai.
Joshua separated the tribes onto the mountains of blessing and curses.
These blessings and curses would follow their obedience or disobedience to the statutes and requirements of that covenant.
Mount Ebal and Mt. Gerizim looking west.
According to tradition the Mountains represented Good and Evil, Mount Gerizim was lush and fertile, while Mount Ebal was rocky and barren, clearly portraying the ramifications of our choices. We may choose the good path, cleaving to God and following in His ways, leading to a rich, fruitful life. Alternatively, we can embrace evil and negativity, which leads to an empty and barren life, devoid of all things good.
The higher portions of Mount Ebal are barren rock—the name means: bald stone, where only thistles and shrubs grow.
Gerizim’s lower slopes are abundant in fountains and are beautifully cultivated with much olive and fig trees.
So here we step back in time…
to the days following the children of Israels arrival in the promised land – they had crossed over the Jordan River and had had their first victory at Ai.
Then, Joshua took the people to Ebal and Gerizim.
He placed the Ark of the Covenant between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The people then divided themselves on the two mountains and listened to Joshua.
After Joshua gathered the people together he read the Book of the Law to them.
Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them. – Joshua 8:30-35
Mt. Ebal
It is often easy for us as believers to get proud at what marvelous people we have become. Joshua gives us all a good reminder: Remember where you’ve come from. God would later tell King David:
“I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be ruler over My people Israel” (2 Sam. 7:8).
In the New Testament Paul writes:
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth” (1 Cor. 1:26).
What made the difference?
God’s grace.
Joshua goes on to say, whatever good there is in us now, remember who is doing it. It is not ours, but God working in and through us. Joshua does not just remind them of Israel’s history but also of God’s grace in Israel’s history.
As the 6 tribes were on Mt. Gerazim and the other 6 tribes were on Mt. Ebal – standing in the valley between the 2 mountains were the elders, the kohanites/priests, the priests assistants.
He placed the Ark of the Covenant between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.
The people then divided themselves on the two mountains and listened to Joshua.
Hebrew: אָרוֹן הַבְּרִית , Modern: Arōn Ha’brēt,
Joshua stood beside the ark.
The 12 tribes were present and also the High Priest and the priesthood, who stood in the valley with the container of that marriage agreement – ark of the covenant.
Located between Mt. Gerizim (left) and Mt. Ebal (right), Shechem
Given the history that the Israelites had with this area, as well as the geographical features that allowed for a large group of people to be gathered…
with this in mind..it is no wonder that Joshua chose this location to remind the people of the Law with God had given to them.
The 6 tribes on Mount Ebal
listened to God’s curses for disobedience;
the remaining 6 tribes on Mount Gerizim
listened to God’s blessings for obedience.
In the hearing of all the people, together with all sojourners, Joshua and the Levites read the whole Book of the Covenant “with a loud voice” (Deut 27:14), and the people responded with their vows.
Mt. Gerizim, the modern Jebel et-Tur, stands on the South, Mt. Ebal on the North, of the narrow pass which cuts through the mountain range, opening a way from the sea to the Jordan. In the throat of this pass to the West, on the South of the vale, and close to the foot of Gerizim, lies the town of Nablus, the ancient Shechem.
Mt. Gerizim was the other mountain on the south and its top was 1 2/3 miles distant from that of Ebal. Ebal is 3077 ft. and Gerizim 2849 ft. above the sea. The valley between them is about 1900 ft. above the sea and in this valley is the town of Shechem which is 5/8 of a mile in length.
Mt. Gerizim – Jebel et-Tur. Deut. 11. 29; 27. 12; Josh. 8. 33; Judg. 9. 7. See also Ebal, Mt. Gerizim was later the holy mountain of the Samaritans, John 4. 20)
Deuteronomy 11:29 – And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. Deuteronomy 27:12 – These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:
Joshua 8:33 – And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal;
This ceremony was like a second Mattan Torah ( a second giving and acceptance of Torah). Before these two mountains, they are to renew their vows to God, because now they were physically in the promised land and because they, as a generation, had not known anything but the wilderness and had not experienced Sinai as had the previous generation.
Now they had become IVRI the ones who had crossed over the Jordan, recall this as the meaning of Hebrew and according to:
Deut. 27:12. These will stand upon Mt Gerazim to bless the people when YOU CROSS OVER THE JORDAN. Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph=(Ephraim + Manasseh) and Benjamin
Mt. Ebal to speak out the curses Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebukun, Dan, Naphtali and the Levites will speak and say to all Israel.
The list of tribes is in Deuteronomy 27:12-13
Those on Mount Ebal, the mount of cursing, are the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali, sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, slave women of Jacob’s two lawful wives.
Those on Mount Gerizim are Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.
Those on Gerizim, the mount of blessing, are children of Jacob’s lawful wives, Leah and Rachel (Gen 35:23-26). Reuben is the exception—though he was one of Leah’s legitimate sons, he was cursed because he had forbidden relations with Bilhah, his father’s concubine (Gen 35:22; 1 Chron 5:1).
In Deuteronomy 11, God gives His people the choice to obey or disobey his commands. To obey brings about the blessing while disobedience brings on the curse.
The two mountain peaks of Gerizim and Ebal represent the fundamental consequence of fallen human nature; the struggle between what we should do and what we should not do.
Nablus, which is the site of ancient Shechem, lies in the valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. These two peaks represent our moral dilemmas. God commanded Joshua upon taking possession of the Promised Land to set the blessing on Mt. Gerizim and the curse on Mt. Ebal (Deut. 11:29). After conquering Ai, Joshua built an altar on Mt. Ebal; the mountain of the curse (Josh. 8:30).
Located in the Hill Country of Ephraim, the city of Shechem played a vital role in the history of Israel. This location, in the middle of the nation, provided the most important crossroads in central Israel. The city lay along the northern end of “The Way of the Patriarchs.” This road, also called the “Ridge Route” (because it followed a key mountain ridge stretching 50 miles south), traveled from Shechem through Shiloh, Bethel/Ai, Ramah, Gibeah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron. This route appears continuously in the Biblical text.
After they arrive at Mount Ebal, Joshua was to build an altar for burnt and peace offerings to the Lord to atone for their sins and to thank God for his blessings. But God added a command about the building of the altar,
“You shall wield no iron tool on them; you shall build an altar to the Lord your God of uncut stones” (Deut 27:5-6).
Why uncut stones?
God is saying that the Israelites should not think that they could make the worship of God better by making an elaborate altar and even one mark of a cutting tool would corrupt the worship of God. Further meaning to the stone the builders would reject would become the cornerstone and that His promise that His gospel shall be as the stone cut out of the mountains without hands; the Rock of our salvation.
In the history and drama of redemption, these places and the ceremony itself are significant in their symbolism. Shechem is the place where God first repeated His promises to Abraham when he arrived in Canaan (Gen 12:6-7). Under the leadership of Moses and Joshua, God again makes His promises of blessing to Israel, Abraham’s descendants.
Gerizim is also the site of the temple that the Samaritans built as their counterpart to the Jerusalem temple. They believed that Joshua built the altar on Gerizim and not on Ebal.
When the Samaritan woman mentioned that her people worshiped on this mountain, she was probably including Abraham and Jacob who built altars in the same region.
But Jesus/Yeshua countered by declaring that:
the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. (John 4:21-24).
But what does Mt. Ebal represent?
It represents our disobedience.
Obedience to the commands of the Lord, then, is to give up our disobedience; for it is the disobedient heart that brings on the curse.
But the terror and misery of the curses on Israel as a result of God’s wrath for their disobedience was just a foretaste of the terror and anguish of hell that our Lord Jesus Christ/Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach suffered in His life and death on the cross.
On Mount Ebal, Israel sacrificed burnt offerings for their sins, a foreshadow of the final sacrifice that God Himself in Messiah has offered for our sins: Christ/Mashiachs’ death on the cross.
We are an accursed people because of our disobedience. Like the tribes on Mount Ebal, we are children of slaves, and we ourselves are slaves of sin. The altar of good works that we build is not a sacrifice that rises as a pleasing aroma to God, because without faith in God’s final sacrifice of His only-begotten Son, our good works are filthy rags, a bad taste, and a repulsive stench before God.
BUT
Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus Christ’s
sacrifice removes the curse from us:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Gal 3:13), a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5:2).
Our own Mount Ebal is the hill of Calvary in Jerusalem where our sacrifice was offered once for all, hanged on the cross for our disobedience.
So how shall we escape from these curses and receive God’s blessings when we can never perfectly obey God’s law?
We are to -(spiritually)- walk the narrow WAY
through the valley from Ebal, the Mount of Cursing
to Gerizim, the Mount of Blessing,
through the perfect obedience of another Man-
through Jesus/Yeshua – the Dalet/the door –
the mediator of the renewed covenant and our ark of salvation;
paid for in His Blood.
We pass through the valley
Shechem
-(Ps. 23 of the shadow of death-the wages of sin) –
through His Blood on the Mercy seat of the ark/Messiah –
and to the Mount of Blessing
where the children become His stewards/servants/priests –
now a royal nation – 1Pet.2:9 – called out of darkness into His marvelous Light.
At Mount Gerizim, the blessings are introduced in Deuteronomy 28:1-2:
And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Obedience is really the nature with which God has created us. This is our true state and thus what we truly desire. True spiritual healing is not so much to cultivate a life of striving to follow God’s commands, but to put to death our disobedient nature.
Jesus/Yeshua preached repentance not morality:
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matt 4:17”
Thus to repent –
to turn from disobedience –
is to come naturally into obedience.
It is in a WAY, to build an altar of sacrifice on Mt. Ebal.
Ariel view of Joshuas Altar.
In the new Mount Gerizim where Jesus/Yeshua preached a long sermon on another Mount – in Matthew 5-7, Jesus/Yeshua pronounced His blessings on kingdom citizens as long as they were:
poor in spirit,
mourn over sins,
meek, righteous,
merciful, pure in heart,
had peace with God, and
persevere in persecution for righteousness’ sake.
Our reward is not earthly, but heavenly (Matt 5:2-12).
These are commands that even the holiest of believers can only begin to obey as they are very difficult words.
But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus/Yeshua challenges us with practical ethics to live by in our life in this imperfect world; while we await the perfect one that He will give us when He returns.
Without the Law, they will not comprehend their sin and misery and their absolute need for a Savior.
And without Christ/Mashiach being sacrificed on the Mount of Calvary to remove the curse from us, we can never receive any blessing from God…
Why?
Because in ourselves, we can never obey God’s law perfectly and be righteous before God, our only hope for blessing is through Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach, who gives His perfect obedience to us- obedience all the way to an accursed death.
Only by trusting Christ/Messiah can we be redeemed from the curse of the Law and then receive blessings from God.
At Shechem in the valley between the two mountains,
Joshua brought the Ark of the Covenant,
which represented the Presence of the Lord Himself.
Here also after the conquest of Canaan Joshuatook a great stone, and set it up there under the oak in the sanctuary of the Lord (Josh. 24:24).
While the altar on Mt. Ebal represented a sacrifice – a relinquishing – of their disobedience,
the altar at Shechem was a witness to their obedience to the commands of the Lord.
Shechem means shoulder probably because the city was built mainly on the slope or shoulder, of Mt. Ebal. Some scholars say it means saddleback.
A saddleback is curved in 2 directions – indicating a place of decision.
(Think multitudes in the valley of decision עֵ֖מֶק הֶֽחָר֑וּץ, valley of strict decision or judgment, in Joel 3:14 )
Understanding Hebrew Language:
OBEY OR DISOBEY
The words KEEP and BREAK are usually interpreted as:
OBEDIENCE and DISOBEDIENCE
The Hebrew word for KEEP is: SHAMAR
רמש
ש מ ר
RESH MEM SHEEN
R – MA – SHA
Literally means: GUARD, PROTECT/PRESERVE and CHERISH
It’s the same verb that described Adam in Eden: to cultivate it and keep it.
KJV: of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Genesis 3:24
Malachi 2:7 Guard – The Hebrew verb šāmar means to watch over, to guard, to keep, to preserve and to care for.
It is from the word SHEMA
שְׁמַע
A Hebrew word meaning:
To listen intently with willing anticipation and readiness to DO what is heard.
It is used in the most important statement of the Hebraic faith…
Shema Inscription on the Knesset Menorah Jerusalem, Israel.
SHEMA YISRAEL
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל
Strongs #8086 shema: to hear
Original Word: שְׁמַע Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: shema Phonetic Spelling: (shem-ah’) Definition: to hear
Here in Deut. 27:9 is the one line prayer called:
the SHEMA – Listen/Hear O Israel and obey!
It is the directive for them to Keep the words of the covenant and do them.
Shema Israel or Sh’ma Yisrael;
Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ;
Hear, O Israel
Shema (hear/listen) is the Hebrew word that begins the most important prayer in Judaism.
It is found in Deuteronomy 6:4, which begins with the command to Hear.
The whole Shema prayer, which includes verses 4-9, is spoken daily in the Jewish tradition: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
The Complete Shema – Hear O Israel, the LORD our God is One LORD.
Shema: the First Passage.
In the recitation of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, special emphasis is given to the first six Hebrew words of this passage:
Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad
and a six-word response is said in an undertone
barukh shem kevod malkhuto le’olam va’ed.
and focus is on the meaning:
HEAR – LISTEN and DO
It was the answer Jesus /Yeshua gave in Mark 12:29-30 to the question as to which of the commandments is the most important of all….
“The most important one,”
answered Jesus, “is this:
‘Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Further reiterated by Jesus/Yeshua many times, when He spoke with the Hebrew understanding of
HEAR – LISTEN also means to DO
James 1:22 reminds us to:
פָּרַר PARAR
The Hebrew verb here is פרר – parar,
Strong’s #6565 and means:
to trample underfoot.
Literally means: TO TRAMPLE UNDERFOOT
Hence the meaning behind Hebrews 10:29trample underfoot is break and disobedience
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing
κοινὸν, a word commonly denoting things unclean; Mark 7:2; Acts 10:14, 28; Acts 11:8; Romans 14:14; and Hebrews 9:13
How much worse (sterner and heavier) punishment do you suppose he will be judged to deserve who has spurned and [thus] trampled underfoot the Son of God, and who has considered the covenant blood by which he was consecrated common and unhallowed, thus profaning it and insulting and outraging the [Holy] Spirit [Who imparts] grace (the unmerited favor and blessing of God)?
verse 29: they have trampled under foot the Son of God. The Son of God laid his life down for them to receive as their substitute, and instead of receiving him as their life and hope, they paused, got some religion, and then stepped on him and went on to other things. Verse 29b: they regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant.
The ancient Hebrew understanding of these words:
The keeping or breaking of the commandments of God…
is not about mechanical obedience and disobedience of His commands
but rather
our attitude towards them.
Will we cherish His commands or will we throw them on the ground and walk on them?
Heavenly Father/Avinu in Jesus/Yeshuas’ Name may we have a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear.
Conclusion coming in part 3..
Shalom shalom mishpachah/family and cheverim/friends!
Time is running out please don’t leave this page…until you
Know for certain you are His…
You are loved and appreciated and prayed for daily.
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Meanwhile let’s remember to stay alert and ready, be in prayer and in His Word for in an hour we think not He is coming… and…
it’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
NOT SURE?
YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen
Sychar. (ssi’ kahr) Place name intended to note drunkard or falsehood, though perhaps originally derived from Shechem.
So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6. and Jacob’s well was there.
Sychar liar or drunkard (see Isaiah 28:1 Isaiah 28:7 ), has been from the time of the Crusaders usually identified with Sychem or Shechem ( John 4:5 ). It has now, however, as the result of recent explorations, been identified with ‘Askar, a small Samaritan town on the southern base of Ebal, about a mile to the north of Jacob’s well.
Jacob’s well at the foot of Mt. Ebal and it is Samaria. John 4:20
The name Shechem is identical to the noun שכם ( shekem ), meaning back or shoulder: Excerpted from: Abarim Publications’ Biblical Dictionary. שכם. The important noun שכם ( shekem) means shoulder, and a person’s shoulder was considered:
the seat of their burdens,
whether physical or metaphorical.
(This is probably the root of our idiom of: shouldering the burden or, the burden is on our shoulders?)
Shechem /ˈʃɛkəm/, also spelled Sichem, was a Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel!
According to Joshua 21:20-21 it was located in the tribal territory given to the tribe of Ephraim.
Traditionally associated with Nablus, it is now identified with the nearby site of Tell Balata in Balata al-Balad in the West Bank.
The Significance of Shechem.
As just mentioned, in Hebrew shechem means shoulder, an apt description of the town’s location in the narrow valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, approximately 40 miles (65 km.) north of Jerusalem.
Today it is known as Nablus.
This location is significant because Shechem’s first steps on the pages of Scripture was when Abram enters the land of Canaan from Ur, across the Fertile Crescent; Shechem was the first city to which Abram came. Genesis 12:6–8, says that Abram reached the great tree of Moreh, at Shechem and offered sacrifice nearby. Genesis, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges hallow Shechem over all other cities of the land of Israel.
The historical background is key to answering our initial question because Shekem /Shechem/ Sychar was the very same location that other notable events took place:
In Genesis 12, Abraham offered a sacrifice to God in this area. Later, Jacob built a well nearby that is mentioned a number of times in the Bible.
Shortly after the nation divided, 1 Kings 12:1 tells us that capital city of the northern nation was briefly set up at Shechem.
And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. – 1 Kings 12:1
Joshua 24:32: And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
Shechem was:
Dwelt in by Abraham and Jacob.
Abraham was promised the land.
Jacob buys a plot of land and settles here with his family.
Jacob’s sons are tending the sheep here before Joseph finds them in Dothan.
Genesis 37:12 – And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.
The covenant is confirmed during the Conquest.
The city is set aside as a levitical city and a city of refuge.
Joseph is buried here.
The ten tribes reject Rehoboam.
Genesis 12:6 – And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite [was] then in the land. Genesis 33:18 – And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which [is] in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.
Here also Jacob dug a well for his many herds. This well is still there today.
While Jacob’s family lived in Shechem, Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, was raped by a man named Shechem, the son of the ruler, Hamor. Jacob’s two sons, Levi and Simeon, made a deceptive pact with the males of the city and slaughtered them all in revenge of Dinah.
Years later, Jacob sent his 17 year-old son, Joseph, from Hebron to check on his brothers as they kept the flocks in Shechem.(Gen 37:12-14).
After Joseph arrived, having undoubtedly traveled up the Ridge Route, he discovered his brothers had moved on to the lush area of Dothan; so he went to find them (Gen 37:15-17). His brothers, filled with hatred, sold Joseph to some Ishmaelite traders who, coming through the Dothan pass, were headed for Egypt along the Via Maris. God used this sad turn of events to eventually take the entire family of Israel to Egypt, protecting and multiplying them.
Joseph’s last memories of Israel, before his brothers sold him, was of Shechem and Dothan.
He believed that God would one day return the nation to Canaan, and so he gave the command for his bones to be carried back with them and buried there (Gen 50:25).
It was a city of refuge: Joshua 20:7 – And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which [is] Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.
A Levitical city Joshua 21:21 – For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, [to be] a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs, And there on Mount Ebal, Joshua built an altar to God, and on a pillar of stones he wrote a copy of the law (Josh. 8:30-35).
Middle Bronze Gate
Part of the city’s fortifications throughout the second millennium, this gate is typical for the Middle Bronze period with three piers and two chambers. Only the stone foundations remain.
This gate most likely was in use in the time of Jacob and certainly was the main gate of the city in the days of Abimelech (Judg 9).
Middle Bronze Wall
Vulnerable by location, Shechem was strongly fortified from its earliest history. This wall was built of Cyclopean stones and continued in use through the Late Bronze Age without significant changes.
In the background, Mount Gerizim was the location of the Samaritan temple in the 4th–2nd centuries BC.
For a moment lets focus on Samaria which is where the Samaritans lived,
Shomronim/səˈmærɪtənz – שַמֶרִים, in Hebrew.
It is a region north of Jerusalem. In Jesus’ day, the Jewish people of Galilee and Judea shunned the Samaritans, viewing them as a mixed race who practiced an impure, half-pagan religion. Samaritans, as a people distinct from the Jews, are first mentioned in the Bible during the time of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity ( Ezra 4:17; Nehemiah 2:10 ).
Shamerim:
שַמֶרִים,
Guardians/Keepers/Watchers (of the Torah)
Ancestrally, Samaritans claim descent from the tribe of Ephraim and tribe of Manasseh (two sons of Joseph) as well as from the Levites who have links to ancient Samaria (now constituting the majority of the territory known as the West Bank) from the period of their entry into Canaan.
The Samaritans believe that Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of Israel from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan. The major issue between Jews and Samaritans has always been the location of the Chosen Place to worship God: The Temple Mount of Moriah in Jerusalem according to Judaism or Mount Gerizim according to Samaritanism.
According to Josephus and 2 Kings 17Samaritans are descendants of the Israelites who mixed with people deported to their country by Assyria. This fits with the Assyrian pattern of conquest. The Samaritans also claim to be descendants of Israelites who remained in the Northern Kingdom, that is Israel, during the Babylonian Captivity. Their exact history is still disputed, but modern DNA testing in 2004 does support they are descended from Israelites with Assyrians and other nationalities as well.
They survived through the time of Jesus/Yeshua, and even, in limited numbers, to the present day. The Bible mentions plenty of stories about Samaritans, and the hatred between Jews and Samaritans features prominently in the Gospels. By the time Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, near Shechem, the racial hatred between Jews and Samaritans was paramount. . And the ensuing argument about the true place of worship—Gerizim or Jerusalem—was in full force (John 4:20).
Here it is pertinent to remind ourselves that in John 8:48 it is recorded that they call Yeshua/Jesus a Samaritan, and say He has a demon. He has been accused of having a demon before, but being called a Samaritan is a new charge…
Calling a Jew, Samaritan, was a racist insult ( 2 Kings 17).
However the more serious sin the Jews committed against Jesus/Yeshua was blasphemously telling the Holy God that He has a demon. (John 8:48).
Jesus/Yeshua has made clear He is the Son of God – that He is God. Jesus/Yeshua has so thoroughly answered their arguments the only tools left to them are name calling and violence.
The Jews of Yeshua/Jesus’ day were well crafted to attack Him with malicious hypocrisy to justify their envy of His popularity and to answer the undeniable proof of His miracles.
The Jews replied to Yeshua/Jesus, “Aren’t we right when we say that you’re a Samaritan and that you’re possessed by a demon?” New American Standard 1977
The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” KJV.
It was an expression of insolence, contempt and scorn, a critical accusation, showing their disapproval of Him.
He denies the latter accusation, but does not deny the former that seems to be meant to accuse him of not having Jewish beliefs.
Although Yeshua/Jesus forbade the Twelve to go into any city of the Samaritans ( Matthew 10:5 ), the parable of the Good Samaritan shows that His love overleaped the boundaries of national hatred ( Luke 10:30 ; compare Luke 17:16 ; John 4:9 )
Jesus/Yeshua had a different attitude toward Samaritans than most Jews. He didn’t hold them in contempt; instead, he reached out to them.
Recall the account when Jesus/Yeshua healed ten lepers, of whom only ONE returned to praise God, and he was a SAMARITAN.
When a Samaritan village refused to welcome Him, He didn’t allow His disciples to order its destruction. Messiah also told His apostles that they would receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit would come upon them and that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. – John 4:5-6
In the Gospel of John, Jesus asks a Samaritan woman of Sychar for water from Jacob’s Well, and after spending two days telling her townsfolk/Samaritans all things as the woman expected the Messiah to do, and presumably repeating the Good News that He was the Messiah, many Samaritans became followers of Yeshua/Jesus.
He accepts without comment the woman’s assertion that she and her people are Israelites, descendants of Jacob. During this encounter she says that the mountain was the center of their worship. This is why the woman says our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say Jerusalem is where men should worship.
John 4:20 – Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
She poses the question to Yeshua/Jesus when she realizes that He is the Messiah and He affirms the Jewish position, saying “You (that is, the Samaritans) worship what you do not know” Jesus/Yeshua then tells her a time is coming when people will worship in spirit and truth rather in some particular place and this is the manner people should worship God. He also said, “You worship you know not what; we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.”
Highlighting the physical location (see various photos and maps included), the city lay between 2 mountains and Jacobs well was at the base of one of them.
The 2 mountains named Gerizim and Ebal and Sychar/Shechem lay between them in the valley below:
Perhaps from an unused root probably meaning to be bald; bare; Ebal, a mountain of Palestine — Ebal.
Arabic el-Iclamiyeh
modern Jebel Eslamiyeh
These 2 mountains, located about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Jerusalem, face each other with the modern city of Nablus on a very narrow piece of land between them.
Shechem is the ancient name with which we are familiar in the Bible. Nablus is approximately 550 meters (~1800 feet) above sea level and the mountains each rise over 300 meters (1000 feet) on either side. As the Israelites sat on these mountains to listen to Joshua, it would have been very easy for them to look across the valley at their fellow family members on the other side.
This same area is the same location as the Biblical city of Shechem. Jewish tradition holds that the original meaning of the word is saddle, which gives an indication of what it looks like.
Between Gerazim and Ebal are streams of living water which flowed out of Jacobs well located at the foot of Mt Ebal.
Here we need to remember the underlying significance of this conversation because there is an act of intolerance here, which may not be immediately obvious.
It is not altogether in the question, “How can you a Jew ask me a Samaritan for a drink”, even though we are informed that Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
It is in the statement, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get living water?”
It helps to picture the scene because she must have been eyeing this strange man carefully.
First, she probably hadn’t expected or wanted to meet anybody when she came to the well; and certainly didn’t expect to find a Jewish man – nor did she expect him to speak to her.
Generally Jews would not enter Samaria and even if a Jew did, he would avoid as much contact with the people there as possible. Speaking to a lone woman would be suspect and might even be dangerous, yet this Jewish man not only has the audacity to speak to this woman, he asks her for a drink when he has no vessel to get the water or to drink from.
It may seem a simple request and a simple act of kindness to hand a thirsty person your vessel, but it would NOT have been for this woman. It would actually have been intolerable to consider it.
Why?
Because if a Jew touched her vessel, it would have been considered unclean and she would have to destroy it. (Probably if a Samaritan touched anything belonging to a Jew it would have suffered the same fate.)
This Jewish man had to know that, and certainly if the roles had been reversed would have viewed it the same way. She must have been surprised he would not only ask her for a drink, but also then offer one to her.
What was she thinking?
If He could give her a drink, why was He asking her for one? And where would He get it, did He know of another well nearby. Perhaps He thought He could draw it somehow from Jacob’s Well?
The well is about 130 feet deep:
The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? John 4:11-12
His term
living water
would NOT have seemed unusual to her.
Why?
Wells had two water supply sources. (Collecting rainwater would have been done with a cistern.) Well water would come from an underground spring or an underground stream.
A stream fed Jacob’s Well.
Wells of this nature,
because the stream is moving,
were referred to as
living water.
Because of this, the woman did not see anything unusual in the use of this term, so she asks Him to give her this water not just because she won’t get physically thirsty again, but so she doesn’t have to trudge to the well and carry the water home again. She doesn’t understand He is talking about something beyond physical water until later in the conversation.
She asks for this living water and He tells her to go get her husband, imagine the shock she must have felt when He answered that she was living with a man who she wasn’t married to and had had 5 husbands. Little wonder she thought He was a prophet.
Her responses were perhaps rather defensive, yet she knows a Messiah is to come and He will explain all things.
We should take note of Jesus/Yeshua’s whole approach to this woman. He asked her for something yet when she declined, He did not get angry or upset with her, but in such a way to raise her curiosity He offered her something in its place.
Instead of addressing her question about His offer directly He asked her to do something, which caused her to face her own sin. However in this conversation He did not accuse or berate her about what she had done. He didn’t engage in attacking her religious belief or get into any argument, but gave her new information further raising her curiosity which led her to continue the conversation. Then after she admits to believing in a coming Messiah, she says this ONE will tell us all things.
Jesus/Yeshua says, I am He, and it probably hit her at that moment that He had indeed told her things He could not have known about her. Jesus/Yeshua had found this woman and having drawn her to Himself, finally revealed who He was and she believed.
Just after the disciples arrive at the Well, the woman quickly leaves. She had come to get water, but she forgets her water jar. Now she isn’t concerned with physical water because she has found THE Living Water and can’t wait to tell others.
The disciples never ask what this was all about. They had gone to fetch food and now their only concern is eating. They urge Jesus/Yeshua to join them and eat.
He gives them another one of those strange answers:
I have meat to eat that you know not of.
What did He mean? In the following verse John 4:34 He qualifies His statement..
This is our meat also… to do the will of our Heavenly Father, so as we follow Yeshua/Jesus pattern, this is the meat and drink that means we will never again be hungry or thirsty – (spiritually). As food is pleasant, and delightful, and refreshing to our bodies, so doing the will of God was as delightful and refreshing to the soul of Messiah: He took as much pleasure in it, as someone hungry does in eating and drinking.
Was He also saying.. do you see? Are you looking for the harvest somewhere else in familiar fields which is not yet ready?
Or do you see the harvest is ready and ripe, right in front of you?
Do you see this woman, who you looked right past with contempt, she had been sown with seeds of hope and was ready for the reaping? Someone had sowed HOPE/TIKVEH, in these people, but it wasn’t you, however, here is the opportunity to reap what has been sowed and you should rejoice in it.
Open your eyes and see what is before you, not what is far away.
The woman had believed and ran back to town to tell everyone. She urged them to come to Messiah and to see and experience what she had seen and experienced.
The people listened to her and they went out to the well to see Yeshua/Jesus. This is the first act of witnessing by a new believer recorded in the gospels.
The local people knew this woman and they knew her past. They sensed something had changed about her and as a result many came to believe in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah even asking Him to remain with them. Recall, these are Samaritans and Yeshua/Jesus and His Disciples are Jewish men so in a sense they are enemies.
He stayed 2 days talking with them and they accepted Him as the Messiah they were looking for. Notice what they said:
Now we believe, not because of your saying for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.
The woman did not save these Samaritans, she simply brought them the message; she became the sower and Yeshua/Jesus reaped the harvest. Again He was setting His Disciples an example, to make haste and sow the word. Do not concern yourself with the reaping, Holy Spirit will take care of that. We are to remember what is in John 4 and said in Romans 10:11-15. because as His Disciples this example is for us also.
In reality, springs of spiritual truth lie deep within us, not on the high grounds of morality.
The kingdom of The Heavens is within you.
Truth lies not so much in our many doctrines but rather in the
Living Waters
of Messiah.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father (John 4:21-22).
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24-25).”
Our walk towards Yeshua/Jesus, takes us to the well…the ONE springing up to eternal life.
One must enter in to Messiah to reach the well ….but it is in the depths of the well itself where the actual Living Water is found… for Messiah is the deep which calls unto deep.
“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me” Psalm 42:7,
believers often use this phrase most often to refer to a deep, personal experience of the Lord ministering to them — from the depths of God’s heart to the depths of their own.
and Psalm 130:1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. This phrase “deep calls unto deep”
consists of communication through prayer, from deep within the heart/mind of a man appealing to the deep recesses (a secluded or secret place) of the heart/mind of his God in a time of dire need and possibly suffering at the hands of enemies.
We looked at this in the post
and this is the very same location where John 4 took place and brings into perspective verses 7 and 10. The well of Jacob that gave life giving water to all the inhabitants of the land and it was why she referred to it in v 20 as being the place where our fathers worshipped on this mountain.
This is Mt Ebal – the place they understood where it was necessary to worship v.20 and then Yeshua/Jesus says
the time is coming verse 23 AND NOW IS when neither Mt. Ebal nor Jerusalem would be the location to worship the father.
He revealed Himself plainly to her and she knew Mashiach was to come then from her sharing her good news – many believed 4:39
Jesus/Yeshua used the parable of the good Samaritan and we may now have a little more insight and understanding of who the Samaritan was and what he believed.
Jesus/Yeshua was offering Himself as the living water and revealing His connection to the well. – This was why it was so significant to her and why she abandoned her container and ran to the town. Shechem had a rich history with the Father, the scriptures say that many believed after her testimony because they were also looking for Messiah.
The location was so significant for the reason that it was where Joshua, a type of Mashiach, had brought the children of Israel to reaffirm their covenant in the promised land that Moses made with God for the Israelites on Sinai…….
Continued in part 2… meanwhile..
The story of The Samaritan woman should serve to remind us of one of the most important truths that even though the Lord can reach us in the most ordinary places – there is nothing ordinary about a life changing encounter with Jesus/Yeshua. We seldom see the kind of response shown by the Samaritan woman when finally she realized she had met the Messiah, the One who was to come.
Sadly many fail to be amazed by Him anymore and Messiah’s miraculous ways have become just every day events.. Is that because we’re still questioning whether this is the Messiah when we hear of miracle testimonies? Maybe it is because we’re not asking with the same convincing hope/tikvah that she had.
Perhaps in some way we have a doubting heart. Is it because we have not yet had that life changing experience ourselves?
This woman of Samaria was transformed because she met the man who told her everything she did.
Jesus/Yeshua was able to reach her in a way no one else could. Seeing in her, things no one else could see.
The message for us today as His disciples is that we need to eagerly get hold of our water jars and head for the well.
That well of living water springing up to eternal life, which can only be found in Messiah.
As we do,
we need to be expectant
that our containers will be too small to hold what will be waiting for us when we get there…
we must run to the well but not with the hope that we will drink… but that we will be filled and will never be thirsty again..
Mishpachah, if this bears witness with our hearts pray this prayer today:
Father I am running to the well today.. I have been waiting for you to come and I’m thirsty. Heavenly father remove all doubt and fear from my heart that I may know the one who knows me and all I have done. I praise you Father for from you alone flow those wellsprings of eternal life.. please fill me once and for all, that I maybe return from the well of Your presence with so much more than my jar could ever hold… in Jesus/Yeshuas Name..
Shalom, Shalom to all Mishpachah – family.
Please don’t leave this page until you have the assurance that you are filled with His Living Water and are sealed to the day of redemption by the Blood of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua. Not sure ..you can be… Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him. It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion. You are very precious in His sight. SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW… Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past. I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
Caleb was a living testimony to the absolute certainty of the promises made by God, as well as a consistent example of faith. Our Heavenly Father kept Caleb as a continual witness to the children of Israel, preserving him as a testimony to the faithfulness of His Word. He is mentioned throughout the record as a witness: 
The book of Matthew opens with the genealogy of Jesus/Yeshua
Stalks of flax drying.
Ariel view of Joshuas Altar.
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