There are so many suggestions and sermons and messages on this subject and even more opinions, however what did He really mean??
Is there something we may have missed;
an idiom, an expression or a metaphor?
כְּגַנָּב בַּלַּיְלָה
Transliteration: ke•ga•nav ba•lay•la
Ga•nav is a thief
and
lay•la is night.
The prefix ke means: as or like,
and ba means: in the.
Maybe we could gain a better understanding of the term when viewed from a Hebrew perspective and not our Greek thinking? Hebrew thought and Greek mindset are very different as we are beginning to realize from our studies. We see so many times in the many parables, Messiah is referring to things commonly understood in His day and time. This is especially true in their culture and in reference to the Jewish/Hebrew/Israelites, whose religious lifestyle was based on the Torah instructions, laws and commandments.
The following may give further insight into the term
thief in the night –
ke•ga•nav ba•lay•la
that Messiah Jesus/Yeshua used…
let the reader decide.
Two of several passages which use the words
“a thief in the night“:
Matthew 24:43, “Understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into,”
and
1 Thessalonians 5:2, “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
This now well known sentence…
Thief in the night,
is not really a new revelation of a so named ‘rapture-type’ event..
and many have the concept of a person breaking in to steal.
By looking at the origin of this Hebrew concept/ idiom/expression; which has been embellished by images of escaping out of all the bad end-of-the-age events; we may gain some interesting insights.
1Thess. 5:1-11 and especially verse 4 But you are not in the dark (we are children of light) we don’t belong to the night or the darkness so that the Day of The Lord should take you by surprise like a thief for we belong to the light who belong to the day.
We often make reference to this term
thief in the night –
ke•ga•nav ba•lay•la
from the scriptures, but how many really know
what the metaphor of the thief in the night is all about?
In order to understand this idiom/metaphor, we must know historically where this term came from.
We know the Levitical Priesthood had very specific and particular functions and roles.
When the 1st and 2nd Temple existed there was a procedure that Priests were assigned to their duties when they came to serve their two weeks of service.
The High Priest or
another person in charge of the temple,
e.g. the Captain of the guards;
would assign each priest to a particular task.
The High Priest/Kohen ha’Gadol
would make his rounds each night in the Temple,
to make sure that the other priests were doing their duty of
keeping the fire burning on the brazen altar.
The altar was the very heart of the Holy Temple, because all of the service to the Lord was centered around it: all of the daily and additional offerings, as well as the individual and congregational sacrifices.
Three Fires.
Three separate piles of wood burned on top of the altar. The largest of these arrangements was designated to receive all the sacrifices; the second provided the coals for the incense altar within the sanctuary, and the third was the perpetual fire which constantly burned on the altar, as Lev. 6:5 states:
And a fire shall burn there on the altar constantly;
it shall not be extinguished.”
A large pile of ashes formed in the center of the altar from the remnants of these fires. God commanded that the coals be removed from here, and brought to another location outside of the Holy Temple which was known as the place of ashes.
The ashes that amassed atop the altar were taken to the
Beit HaDeshen (the place of the ashes),
a pure place outside the Temple
Leviticus 6:4,
on the Mt. of Olives outside the city walls,
or to the large Beit HaDeshen in the north of Jerusalem.
The commandment in the Torah was to
never allow this fire on the altar to go out. Leviticus 6:13.
The priest who was assigned to keep the fire on the altar burning all night understood that the fire could not go out for any reason; this meant that He could not sleep the whole night.
If he fell asleep, the fire would not stay stoked with wood, and it would go out, thereby bringing judgment on the entire nation of Israel/Yisra’el.
The priests were also commanded not to have wine or strong drink while serving in the temple (Leviticus 10:9). Alcohol in their blood stream would defile their worship and cause them to become drunk, lazy and sleepy.
The High Priest/Kohen ha’Gadol /or the Captain of the guards, would leave the temple but he would quietly return before daylight. He would first check the fire on the altar. If it was burning then all was well and as it should be; but if it was about to go out, then he would take a shovel of coals from the Altar and go and look for the priest who was assigned to keep the fire burning.
Because the
Kohen ha’Gadol/High Priest
came at an hour
when they were least expecting him to show up,
the priests began to refer to him as…
כְּגַנָּב בַּלַּיְלָה
ke•ga•nav ba•lay•la
If the priest on duty fell asleep and was not watching the fire on the brazen altar, the High Priest would find him sleeping on the job. So it became known as an idiom.
When he found him sleeping on the stone floor the High Priest would wake him up by taking some hot coals from the altar, and after scooping them up with a shovel he would put some on different parts of his Linen garments.
Linen is very flammable and the priest who had fallen asleep would be suddenly awakened by the smell of hot burning coals and his garment on fire. He would immediately strip off his clothes as fast as he could in order to prevent from being burned.
At the end of his turn, the other priests would see him naked, without his garment, and he would be ashamed; primarily because all the other priests would know that he had been caught falling asleep on watch.
According to Hebrews 7:17-21
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus is our High Priest
after the order of Melchizedek and his true followers according to 1Peter 2:9 are His royal priesthood. We are cautioned not to be like those priests who fell asleep when they should have been alert, waiting and watching for the return of their High Priest.
The figure of speech or idiom:
was well known at the time of Messiah.
The High Priest was not a thief but
he came as a thief, meaning:
he came unexpectedly to those who were asleep!!
The priests who were awake doing their jobs
expected him to come before dawn.
This story about keeping the fire burning on the altar is a parable about those who will be doing the Father’s will when Messiah returns to take away His Bride.
The thief in the night
כְּגַנָּב בַּלַּיְלָה
ke•ga•nav ba•lay•la
was the ancient Hebrew reference (idiom) for the time the bridegroom would come for his bride. Luke 12:35-36,
Yeshua (Jesus) associated the same Hebraic idiom in Matt. 25:13 – no man knows the day or the hour – which referred to Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets on the first of Tishrei.
And, in Matt. 25:6, ” and in the middle of the night a cry was made, Lo, the bridegroom doth come; go ye forth to meet him.” (YLT)
The thief in the night
was also the ancient Hebrew reference (idiom), for the time the bridegroom would come for his bride/ kallah – כַּלָּה.
For more click link below Hebrew bride, wedding and 10 virgins (natzarim):
https://www.minimannamoments.com/the-hidden-mystery-of-the-kallah/
Luke 12:35-36, “ 35 `Let your loins be girded, and the lamps burning, 36 and ye like to men waiting for their lord, when he shall return out of the wedding feasts, that he having come and knocked, immediately they may open to him.” (YLT)
The allusion is to persons waiting at a wedding in the night, with torches and oil lamps in their hands.
Lamps are kept burning at night, during the dark hours. The wedding feast was held when the bridegroom came for his bride during the night hours – as a thief in the night.
The Hebrews / Judeans knew the references of the wedding ceremony were also to Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets because of the association with the blast of the shofar / trumpet.
The parable comparing the kingdom to a wedding feast in Matt. 22:1-14 lays out the sequence of events for the marriage of the Lamb and the time of Christ’s second coming… at the destruction of Jerusalem.
Those who are not keeping His Commandments will suffer loss and will be judged and punished by fire. We must be about our Heavenly Fathers’ business.
Noah was like the watchful priest that was in charge of the fire on the altar. He kept the fire burning, meaning: he followed the commands, was a light to his generation and he received his reward. Salvation and deliverance out of judgement.
Lot was like the sleeping priest that was in charge of the fire on the altar. He did not keep the fire burning, meaning; he did not let his light shine before men and he suffered great loss.
We are given a command to watch, and keep our garments so that we will not be ashamed when our Messiah returns. Now we can better understand his warning to us in the book of Revelation: Chazown 16:15-19 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
In his letter to the Renewed Covenant believers in Messiah, the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) wrote to them: “You have no need that I write to you concerning the times and the seasons”
1 Thessalonians 5:1-5
The Day of the Lord
5 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.
What did he mean by this statement?
In order to understand what Sha’ul/Paul was saying here, we must understand that the Hebrew word for
times and seasons is
moedim
pronounced – mow-eh-deem.
The word moedim is plural for the
Hebrew word moed.
Hebrew word mowed as seen in the Hebrew Concordance:
#4150 mow’ed mo-ade’ or moled {mo-ad’}; or (feminine) moweadah (2 Chronicles 8:13) {mo-aw-daw’}; from 3259; properly, an appointment, i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand):–appointed (sign, time), (place of, solemn) assembly, congregation, (set, solemn) feast, (appointed, due) season, solemn(-ity), synogogue, (set) time (appointed).
Why did Sha’ul/Paul have no need to write to them about these things?
1 Thessalonians 5:
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of YHWH so comes as a thief in the night.
Because they were all keeping our Heavenly Fathers’ Sabbaths and Appointed Days!
Shaul/Paul, and the Thessalonians were well aware of this metaphor concerning the High Priest and the thief in the night. They practiced these things in the temple year after year and there was no need to explain it to them. If they continued to keep the Fathers’ appointed moedim as he had commanded them to do forever, they would not be taken by surprise.
1Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
In ancient Jerusalem, there would be two witnesses who would stand on the walls of Jerusalem and watch for the first sliver (crescent) of the new moon.
When the Father in heaven decided to allow the new moon to appear in the sky, then these two witnesses would sound the shofar/trumpet and all the people in the city would immediately drop what they were doing, and they would run towards the temple for the celebration of
The Day of Blowing or in Hebrew,Yom Teruah.
The Temple doors were only open for a short period of time, and if they failed to make it to the temple before the doors were shut, those who were slow in running to the temple were left out. Once the doors were shut, nobody could get in. Because this feast was to begin at sundown, they had to make sure that their oil lamps were filled so that they could find their way in the dark towards the temple.
In those days, there were no street lights, so they had to carry their oil lamps to help them find their way once it got dark. In Matthew 25, our Messiah told the parable of the ten virgins. Only five of these virgins were wise and had their oil lamps filled when the bridegroom came, but the five foolish virgins had not prepared themselves by filling their lamps with oil.
When The Day That No Man Knows had arrived, the two witnesses sounded the trumpet/shofar, and the five wise virgins were ready to go into the marriage. Much to their peril, the foolish virgins, had no oil in their lamps, and consequently, they could not see their way around in the dark. The foolish virgins were admonished to go and buy oil for their lamps, which caused them to be too late for the feast. When the temple doors were shut, the five foolish virgins were left out.
Many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem would be
working in the fields or
grinding at the mill, Matthew 24:40-42,
and when they heard the sound of the shofar/trumpet
they knew that their work was finished.
Our Messiah was speaking in the language of
Feast of Trumpets typology
when He said that we must
Work while it is yet day, for the night comes when no man can work John 9:24.
Those who were working in the fields had to run towards the temple before the doors were shut. The person who was alert and listening for the trumpet would be taken by the alarm; this was his signal to run towards the temple.
However, those who were not alert and not watching, would not hear the sound of the trumpet, and they would be left in the field or grinding at the mill,
unaware that
the day had come.
Shaul/Paul, knew that these followers of Messiah were
not in darkness because they were keeping their
oil lamps filled and ready for the day when it arrived.
They would not be overtaken by
the day that no man knows
without oil in their lamps.
Their High Priest, Jesus/Yeshua, would come not as
A
for them, because they would not be in darkness!
1Thessalonians 5:
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
The Hebrew word for
day is yom – יוֹם
which means the following:
#3117 yowm: yome from an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset), continually, everlasting, season.
The Hebrew word for light
in the Strong’s Hebrew Concordance as
#216 owr אוֹר
which means the following: light, light of day, light of heavenly luminaries (moon, sun, stars); day-break, dawn, morning light; light of lamp; light of life; light of prosperity; light of instruction.
The illustration below of the seven-branch menorah,
each light on the lamp represents
a feast day or
an appointed yom.
Paul was saying that because they and we are
children of the light and of the day,
we will be walking in our Master’s instructions,
and the light or revelation received when we understand and remember His appointed times!
As priests in the order of Melchizedek, we must not be like those priests who would be found
drinking alcohol while on watch and
getting drunk and falling asleep.
We are given clear warning here to
watch and be sober.
The Greek word here for
sober is nepho
which literally means: to abstain from wine.
1 Thessalonians 5:
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For Elohim has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Master Jesus/Yeshua Mashiach/Messiah.
The breastplate being spoken of here is an allusion to the
Choshen –
the priest’s breastplate,
that he wore for the twelve tribes of Israel/Yisra’el.
Those of us who are ready will be made kings and priests in the New Millennial Kingdom of our Mashiyach/Messiah as we can read in Revelation 1:6, 5:10. For
the bride who is walking in the light and the truth of scripture,
must go through tribulation
as part of the purifying process
to be made ready without spot or wrinkle
Daniel 12:10, Revelation 3:8; 7:14.
The Hebrew word for
tribulation
in the Strong’s Concordance:
#6862 tsar tsar or tsar {tsawr}; from 6887; narrow; (as a noun) a tight place (usually figuratively, i.e. trouble); also a pebble (as in 6864); (transitive) an opponent (as crowding):–adversary, afflicted(-tion), anguish, close, distress, enemy, flint, foe, narrow, small, sorrow, strait, tribulation, trouble.
Messiah likened Himself to
The thief in the night
who would
come at
an hour that no man knows.
For these people who were not watching with their oil lamps filled, sudden destruction will come upon them as a woman in travail
and it would be too late for them to escape the wrath of The Father. 1Thessalonians 5:3
The priest’s duty was to trim the wicks and
keep the lamp lit at all times.
The menorah represented God, Who is light. Jesus/Yeshua said that He was the Light of the World in John 9:5. When Jesus/Yeshua returns, He will be the Light /the menorah in the Tabernacle as it is said in Revelation, The Lamb will be its light.
For us today we are to be the Light of the World.
As previously noted fire was always burning in the Temple, because the Lord commanded His priests saying,
A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out. Leviticus 6:13.
The fire on the altar was a reflection of God ‘s moving power and His continual ministry on behalf of His children.
Why was the fire in the altar to burn continuously as repeated in Leviticus?
…12The fire on the altar shall be kept burning; it must not be extinguished. Every morning the priest is to add wood to the fire, arrange the burnt offering on it, and burn the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. 13The fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it must not be extinguished.
God wanted a perpetual fire there. Recall that before the giving of the Torah/Law, God appeared to Moses “in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up” Exodus 3:2 .
The Fathers Holy presence/His divinity and fire are often connected in the scriptures: Deuteronomy 5:4; Psalms 50:3; Malachi 3:2, and this is because of His power, glory, and the cleansing effects of fire. Just as a fire separates the metal from the dross, so our Father by His work, refines the righteous and also by His judgments, separates the good from the evil.
In the Old Testament, the Lord appeared to Moses in the wilderness in the form of a burning bush Exodus 3:2. And after the Exodus, He walked among His people in the form of a pillar of fire Exodus 13:21–22. The fire represented the presence of the Almighty
1 Corinthians 10:1-4, 9.
The temple fire was originally kindled by God Himself:
and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. Leviticus 9:24.
No other source of fire was acceptable to God.
When the sons of Aaron attempted to offer a foreign fire, they were killed. Numbers 3:4.
The Jewish historians affirm that this fire burned continuously through their sojourning years in the wilderness.
The fire of the Lord was again sent down during the dedication of the new temple by Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:1 and it would seem that it continued until the Babylonian captivity.
Some Hebrew traditions even claim that it continued for more than 1,400 years, never being allowed to be put out until the final destruction of the temple at Jerusalem in 70 AD.
John the Baptist prophesied that the Messiah was to baptize people with the Spirit and with fire Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16.
And after the Resurrection, His Holy Spirit at the Day of Pentecost came down and filled the people taking the form of
“tongues of fire” Acts 2:3.
Jesus/Yeshua said in John 16:1 I have told you these things so you wont be caught off guard or taken by surprise. And in verse 13-15 reminding us that Holy Spirit will announce to us the events of the future.
However in 1Thess. 5:1-3 we are told that only the Father knows the times and dates; Matthew 24:36, and believers have no need to know them. Acts 1:7 so all our date setting and calculations are to no avail because the
Day of the Lord will come
like a
כְּגַנָּב בַּלַּיְלָה
ke•ga•nav ba•lay•la
thief in the night.
Is. 2:9; Amos 5:18-20; Zeph 1:7,14; 2:2-3; 3:8.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
2Pet 3:10
No one knows when exactly Messiah will appear.
Matthew 24:27 When the Son of Man comes, it will be like lightning extremely fast, and everyone will see it, no one will miss it
Verse 30 Son of Man comes on the clouds.
1Thess 5:3 The destruction will come suddenly upon them. The picture of destruction coming suddenly in the midst of (apparent) peace, echoes throughout the Tenakh with the prophets like Isaiah 57:19-21 Jeremiah 6:14 and Ezek. 10:10. Here Paul refers to
Yom Adonai Day of the Lord and Messiahs return as:
the way labor pains come upon a pregnant woman.
The sages/rabbis have historically referred to these troubled times preceding the advent of the Messiah as
the chevlei Mashiach, the birth pains of Messiah.
The expression arises from the prophets who employed birthing imagery, often comparing times of distress and the trials of the day of the LORD to the travails suffered by a woman in labor.
Luke 17:26-30; Genesis 6:13 & Matt. 24:30. In the days of Noah they didn’t know what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away and as for the one taken and one left in Matt 13:24; Messiah clearly says the tares are gathered first verse 30 from among the wheat…so maybe the one taken is not the believer?
Rev. 16:15-19 Of a certainty the Messiah will come as a
and whether the reader holds to
a pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, or post-tribulation
so named rapture type event;
as the word rapture is nowhere in scripture;
it remains for each of us to
be prepared and ready for
His certain and imminent return.
Because the
Solomon principle
of Ecc. 1:9 solemly declares:
the thing that has been is the thing that shall be
so
..as in the days of Noah and Lot……
Rest assured family, He is coming for His Bride
let’s make certain we are awake!
There is forgiveness of sins and
a future to be gained
for the truly repentant heart…
…don’t wait one more minute,
let the Blood of His Son,
Messiah Yeshua – Jesus Christ
wash you clean and make you wholly ready
for eternity in His presence.
