Glad-U-See

"YHVH said unto Moses, write this for a memorial on a scroll, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua" (Exo 17:14). This differs from the oral law in that what was said orally to Joshua was written down first. It was written down so that it might be remembered --- "Rabbi Akiba's Messiah" by Daniel Gruber, pg 34-35.

In Luke Chapter 16 Yeshua is confronted by a group of men who corrupted the written Torah (Deu 29:23-28). The Pharisees placed more significance on their own oral reforms than on the Torah (as Yeshua indicted in Matthew Chapter 23).

Luk 16:14-15 The Pharisees, who were covetous (they coveted the keter kehunah, the Crown of the Priesthood, which they called "the divinely authorized channel through which the people approach Heaven". A hint to this priestly authority can be seen in Act 9:13-14), also heard all these things and they derided Yeshua. And he said unto them, ye are they which vindicate yourselves before men; but YHVH knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed by men (the oral law) is abomination in the sight of YHVH.

In Luke 16:16-31 Yeshua cites three examples, illustrating the supremacy of written over oral.

John’s ministry was validated by the written Torah.

John's ministry was to go before the face of YHVH to prepare His ways; to declare that YHVH Elohim of Israel had visited and redeemed His People, and had raised up the Horn of Salvation for Israel, in the House of His servant David. (See Luk 1:68-79).

Luk 16:16-17 The Torah and the prophets were concerning John (Shem Tob’s Matthew uses the word "concerning", not the word "until"); since that time (since the time John started his ministry) the Kingdom of YHVH in Israel (1Chr 28:5; 2Chr 13:8) is preached, and everyone is breaking forth (Col 2:14-18). You see, it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the written Torah to fail.

Jots and tittles are signs given by Moses in the text of the Torah that are not translated, but every scribe copies them precisely in every Torah scroll. Jots are dots put above letters in the text (as in Gen 33:4). Tittles are a class of other kinds of markings in the text. They include enlarged or bolded letters (as in Deu 6:4), letters made smaller (subscripted), gaps in the text, and letters drawn in unique ways. None of these are translated or even noted in English translations (courtesy of Monte Judah and Lion and Lamb Ministries).

Breaking forth with John the breach-maker:

Mic 2:12-13 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep in the sheepfold, as the flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall roar and throng with mankind. The breach-maker (John) is come up before them; they have broken out, and have passed through the entrance, and are gone out by it; and their king shall pass before them, even YHVH, on the head of them.

It is important to know, that in taking hold of YHVH's Possession in the Millennium Israel will swarm into the Land, as YHVH impoverishes and casts out all the inhabitants (Eze 20:38).

The Writing of Divorce validates a husband's dismissal. In Hebrew, the writing of divorce is called a "get". It states: "thus do I set free, release thee, and put thee aside, in order that thou may have permission and the authority over thy self to go and marry any man thou may desire".

Luk 16:18 Whosoever dismisses his wife without giving her a writing of divorce, in order to marry another, commits adultery; and whosoever marries her that is sent away by that husband commits adultery. (It is adultery to marry a woman who was not given a writing of divorce).

Mat 5:31-32 (Rendered from the Aramaic texts) Everyone who leaves his wife and divorces her, is to give her a writing of divorce. And I say to you, that everyone who leaves his wife without giving her a writing of divorce causes her to commit adultery if she remarries (except for the cause of her own fornication, because adultery has already been committed by her). And whosoever shall marry her that is undivorced, commits adultery (the word "undivorced" is the Aramaic word shvikta and means a woman whose husband has not given her divorce papers. The Aramaic word for "divorced" is shrita, which means the one on whom the sacred bond has loosened).

Mal 2:16 For YHVH, the Elohim of Israel, saith that, "because he (Judah) hates to divorce"; and "he covers his garment with corruption", saith YHVH of the Armies of Israel, "therefore take heed for your spirits (for your motives, Pro 16:2-3) --- do not betray".

From an essay on the above verse, by Nehemiah Gordon: In v.13 Malachi says that Judah has made the altar to weep so that their sacrifices are no longer acceptable. In verse 14 Judah asks what they have done and Malachi responds that YHWH is upset that Judah has "betrayed" the wife of his youth. How did he betray the wife of his youth? This is already explained in vv.10-11: "10> Is there not one father to all of us? Did not one God create us all? Why has a man betrayed his brother, desecrating the covenant of our fathers? 11> Judah has betrayed and done an abomination in Israel and Jerusalem, for Judah has desecrated the holy one of YHWH whom he loved and husbanded the daughter of a foreign god. "This is a violation of the covenant of our forefathers which forbids us to marry idolaters, Deu 7:1-4. This is the "betrayal" Malachi is speaking about. But why is this a betrayal to the Israelite wife of his youth? Isn't this just a betrayal to YHWH? Mal 2:16 explains, that because the Judahite hated to divorce "he covered his garment with corruption". In other words, rather than give a letter of divorce to his Israelite wife, giving her the opportunity to remarry and live a normal life, this Judahite, who hated divorce, kept her as a wife while at the same time he married a heathen woman. This is the betrayal of the Judahite man against the Israelite wife of his youth, which makes the altar weep. An abandoned wife is not divorced, so she cannot remarry, but at the same time her husband does not fulfill his husbandly duties to her. So she is stuck in limbo.

Even the oral testimony of Eliezer (Lazarus), resurrected from being dead, cannot compare to the written testimony of the Torah.

The following illustration parallels Luk 15:11-32 (see the section Prodigal Son in the chapter "Born Again").

Luk 16:19-21 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen (he represents the citizens of a host nation, Luk 15:15), and fared sumptuously every day; and there was a certain beggar (representing Israel, Luk 15:13-17) named Eliezer, which was laid at his gate (a gate is a symbol for exile), full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores (dogs and pigs symbolize gentiles, Luk 15:15; Psa 22:16).

Luk 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died. Then he was carried by the angels (in the Resurrection, Mat 24:31) to Abraham's bosom.

Death, burial ...

Heb 9:27 As the People are awaiting to die, one time at least -- and after the wait, the Judgment (death is the Judgment).

Dan 12:13 (An excerpt from "A Paraphrase on Daniel" by Jacchiades) But thou, O Daniel, go to the end of thy life in this world; and after thou art dead ... at the end of days, thou shall stand and live in the Resurrection of the Dead, and shall enjoy thy good lot in the world to come.

Isa 26:19 (Holman Christian Standard Bible) Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring forth the departed spirits.

Hos 13:14 I will deliver Ephraim (vs. 12) from the power of Sheol, that is, I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues (O Sheol, I will be thy destruction); sorrow shall be hid from mine eyes.

Psa 49:11-15 Their graves are their eternal homes, their homes from generation to generation, though they have named estates after themselves. But despite his assets, man will not last; he is like the animals that perish. This is the way of those who are arrogant, and of their followers, who approve of their words. <pause> Like cattle, sheep, and goats they are headed for Sheol; Death will shepherd them. The upright will tread on them in the morning, and their body will decay in Sheol, far from their residence, above them. But Elohim will redeem my life from the grip of Sheol for He will fetch me (Deu 30:4).

Act 2:22-24 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Yeshua the Netzer ("netzer" is the Hebrew word for shoot or branch, Isa 11:1), a man approved of YHVH among you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which YHVH did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of YHVH, ye have taken, and by the hands of Torah-less men, placed on the gallows and murdered; whom YHVH raised up, having loosed the ropes of the grave (from the Aramaic Peshitta -- Elohim will redeem my life from the grip of the grave, Psa 49:15), because it was impossible that he should be held by it.

Act 2:29-35 Brothers, I can confidently speak to you about the patriarch David: he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that Elohim had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing this in advance, David spoke concerning the resurrection of the Messiah in Psa 16:8-11: "He was not left in Sheol. No! His flesh did not experience decay" (compare 1Cor 15:4 & Joh 11:39). Elohim has resurrected this Yeshua. We are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since he has been exalted by the right hand of Elohim (an allusion to his resurrection. Psa 118:15-18) and has received from the Father the holy spirit, the Promise (Act 3:25; 26:6-8), He has poured out what you both see and hear (Act 2:14-21). Because David did not ascend into the heavens (Isa 26:19), but he himself says in Psa 110:1: YHVH said to Adoni, "Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies (the nations, Psa 110:6) your footstool" (see Act 7:49-50).

... and the resurrection:

Joh 5:29 And shall be resurrected; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and, they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

Dan 12:1-2 At that time Michael the great prince who stands watch over your People will cease watching over your People (2The 2:6-7). Then there will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into existence until that time. But at that time all your People who are found written in the Book will escape (see Joel 2:30-32 in the chapter entitled "What Must I Do to Be Safe?"). And many of your People that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting abhorrence.

Notice, only Israel will be resurrected and judged, Eze 37; the Edomites have a different destiny, Isa 26:14; Jer 51:57; 1The 4:13.

Everlasting Abhorrence:

Isa 66:24a And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men of Israel that have rebelled against my Word (from the Isaiah Targums) for their worm shall not die.

"Worm" is not the Hebrew word rimmaw which means maggot, but is the Hebrew word tola'ath, and it means crimson. It is the red dye made from the dried carcass of a coccus ilicis (see the image above) used in the preparation of the ashes of the Red Heifer in Numbers Chapter 19. In our text, the worm does not die because it is already dead. Their crimson color is a description of festering organic matter.

Isa 66:24b Neither shall their fire be quenched.

In Hebrew, the word "quench" is kabah, and means to put out or to extinguish. This is not the word shaqa which means to subside. The fires will not be extinguished, but they would subside if there were no more fuel to burn. Consider Lev 6:12-13.

Isa 66:25c And the sight of the carcasses of men shall be an everlasting abhorrence to everyone.

A carcass that remains unburied is an abhorrent thing and a "cursed of YHVH", Deu 21:23; see 2Sam 21:1-10.

Mat 25:41a Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye condemned, into everlasting fire ("everlasting consequences").

Jude 7 says that Sodom and Gomorrha suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. It does not follow however, that a fire which is not extinguished or quenched will never go out on its own, as evidenced by the fact that the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah eventually went out for lack of fuel; see 2Pet 2:6. Also, compare Jer 17:27 & 2Chr 36:19-21.

Mat 25:41b Prepared for the devil and his angels.

In classical Greek the phrase "the devil and his angels" means a "character assassin and his envoy", an idiom for Korah and his followers, Num 16:23-35. The Letter to the Hebrews says that ALL of the angels are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation, Heb 1:13-14. There are no fallen angels, as Jude contended in his sardonic treatise against the Book of Enoch and its' devotees (compare Jude 9 and 1 Enoch Sec 1, Chapter 9).

Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment (not "everlasting punishing"); but the righteous into life eternal.

Abraham and his bosom (cp. Joh 13:23) will be in the Land of Israel.

Gen 17:8 And I will give unto you Abraham and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their Elohim.

2Chr 20:7 Art not thou our Elohim, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy People Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham (thy friend) forever?

Mat 8:11-12 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of YHVH in Israel (1Chr 28:5; 2Chr 13:8). But the children of the kingdoms (from the Aramaic Peshitta; see Mat 13:36-39) shall be cast out into outer darkness (darkness is anywhere outside of the Land of Israel, Isa 9:1-3); there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (deep seated resentment, Psalm 112).

The phrase "the hell" is the word "sheol" in Hebrew (Strong's #7585). It means a pit or a grave, as in Gen 37:35-36.

Job 17:13-16 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, thou art my father; to the worm, thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? They shall go down alone into the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

Ecc 3:19-21 For that which happens to the sons of men happens to beasts; one happens to them; as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast; for all is pointless. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Luk 16:22d The rich man also died, and was buried in a pit.

Luk 16:23 He awoke (during the Resurrection) being in vexation, and sees Abraham afar off, and Eliezer in his bosom (Gen 15:2).

Luk 13:28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (resentment), when ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of YHVH in Israel (1Chr 28:5; 2Chr 13:8), and you yourselves rejected.

Luk 16:24-25a And he cried and said, Father Abraham (the Edomites are also descendants of Abraham), have mercy on me, and send Eliezer, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am anguished and distressed by that flashback, because Abraham had said, "son, remember".

We have morphed the Greek word "phlox" into "flasback" to illustrate that his tongue dried up and he was unable to swallow, remembering his past life and contemplating his nonparticipation in the resurrection.

Luk 16:25b-26 Thou in thy lifetime received thy good things, and likewise Eliezer evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you a large gulf (Psa 106:9) has been situated; so that they which would pass through from hence to you cannot; neither can they cross over to us, that would come from thence.

The phrase "to cross-over" comes from the Hebrew word "abar" (Strong's #5674). This is the root word for “Hebrew”. The word depicts crossing the Sea from Egypt into the Wilderness where the Hebrews entered into the Covenant with YHVH.

Not being a descendant of those who crossed over was the rich man's insurmountable obstacle.

Yeshua uses the narrative above to bring home his teaching about the primacy of the written Torah.

Luk 16:27-28a Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would send him to my father's house; for I have five brothers …

The rich man and his five brothers represent the six Islamic nations surrounding Israel (see Amo 1:3-2:3): Aram, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab.

Luk 16:28b … that he may testify unto them, lest they also come onto this occasion of the testing stone (the "occasion of the testing stone" or touchstone was a time of judicial scrutiny. In Hebrew it is referred to as "eben bochan", a tried stone; see Isa 28:16-17).

Deu 19:18-19 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and, behold, if the witness be a false witness (in Hebrew, someone who bears false witness is called a dibbah or a devil, Strong's #1681), that is, he has testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother; so shalt thou put the evil (Mat 6:13) away from among you.

Rev 20:7-10 When the 1,000 years are completed, the satan (the enemy) will break away from its ward and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog will gather the nations for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. They came up over the surface of the Whole Earth and surrounded the Encampment of the Children of Israel (Psa 148:14), the Beloved City. Then fire came down from 'Heaven' (a euphemism for YHVH) and consumed them. And the devil (the false witness, see Deu 19:18-19 above) that deceived the Whole Earth was cast into the lake of the fire and brimstone (Isa 34:9-10; see Josephus War IV, 8, 4), where were the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be a trespass offering day and night forever and ever.

The Greek word basanos (touchstone, tormented) is used in the Septuagint (1Sam 6:17 ) for a votive offering made by a defeated enemy.

Luk 16:29-31 Abraham saith unto him, they had Moses and the prophets (the written Torah, Joh 5:45-47) for them to hear. And he said, no, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the Dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, if they did not hear Moses and the Prophets (the written Torah) neither would they have been persuaded through the oral testimony of someone who had resurrected from the dead.