Exodus 1:1-6:1; Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23; Luke 9 (all)
We are very thankful that Yahweh is making it possible for us to begin our new Nazarene Israelite Parashah or Torah portion series now. It is also a real praise here that He is having us get started in Parasha “Shemote” or Parashah “Exodus.” We are even taking it as a confirmation of sorts because it fits in with the house of Ephraim’s prophetic role and our needs so perfectly. It seems to us like the perfect place to begin the Parashah series. And we give Him thanks and praise for that.
The reason we are so excited about this is that in the last Parashah reading (in the 2022 Parashiot Schedule), we finished the book of B’reisheet (Genesis). In that book, Israel (Jacob) and his children become a family which we are also a part of if we seek to serve the same Elohim (God) of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov (Jacob/Israel) through Mashiach Yeshua’s Spirit.
In B’reisheet, Israel (the nation) went down into Egypt (which we know is symbolic of the world in the world system). There they go into submission to the king of Egypt who was the king of the world at that time. These days, we know that there is a certain Sabbatean-Frankist (Jewish) sect that controls the world’s finances and who is effectively the king of the world in the world economy.
Shemote (Exodus) 1:13-14
13 The Egyptians used violence to compel the sons of Israel to labor;
14 and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they violently had them perform as slaves.
We are going to see there are certain parallels because Yahweh works in patterns. Again, it is in B’reisheet that Israel has effectively taken down into the Egyptian system. That which is effectively the same as the Babylonian system (since Babylon is effectively just a different manifestation of Satan and a different system for controlling the world).
In the Egyptian system you have a man pretending to be Elohim and in the Babylonian system they worship false Elohim that secretly serve the goals of men otherwise known as “the elite.” The point is that in B’reisheet, Israel goes down into Egypt and is taken captive by that system. We might say that Israel goes into spiritual captivity in Egypt, and we are going to see a lot of parallels to that throughout this whole Parasha series as it continues.
One of the things that we find so auspicious about Yahweh beginning our study series in Exodus especially with our new schedule is that the nation of Israel leaves Egypt (symbolic of the world system) and becomes a set-apart nation devoted unto Yahweh Elohim. If we think about it, is this not also what we in the house of Ephraim want; to leave the world system and to leave the Babylonian systems behind and become a set-apart nation devoted unto Yahweh Elohim once again? Is this not what the prophets say will happen? That Yahweh will take Ephraim and those of Judah who are presently sojourning with him and bring them back to his land in the end times?
Yehezeqel (Ezekiel) 37:21
21 ”And say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh Elohim says: “Behold, I am going to take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;
Well, if so, let us see that which we can learn about that process by studying the patterns contained in the Torah.
His Order and the Kingdom
We begin Parasha Shemote in Exodus chapter 1. Together we are going to see how scripture says Yahweh plans to take His people (Israel) out of the world system to become His set apart people.
Only, unlike what is taught in messianic Israel, in Nazarene Israel we do not believe it is a free ride. We understand there is a great big job to do; to build Yeshua’s kingdom (the great commission).
Marqaus (Mark) 16:15-16
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
16 The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned.”
If you have read the Nazarene Israel study, you would know why Yeshua our Messiah expects us to be active in doing this for Him. As His body on earth, we need to come together in the right order (as outlined in our Acts 15 Order Study) so that we can do this job for Him together. We are going to see multiple parallels to this idea throughout our Parashah series.
If we genuinely love Yeshua and we want to serve Him as His disciples, then we absolutely need to pay strict attention to what he says to do. What we are going to see as this Parashah series goes along is that just as our ancestors in Israel were commanded to leave Egypt and to leave the spirits of Egypt behind, they were also commanded at the same time to order and organize themselves according to Yahweh’s instructions. So that when they left Egypt, they would be an ordered nation and a people. We will also see parallels to this in the Renewed Covenant as well.
We also are going to have to learn to leave Egypt behind spiritually and to organize ourselves according to Yeshua our Messiah’s instructions (or what we call Yeshua’s Torah). We are also going to see how this is the exact same order and organization that we are going to need in the day that Yahweh takes us out of Egypt (the world system); bringing us back to the land of Israel. And how Yeshua our Adon wants us to be in order today.
Disclaimer: Will You Take Up Your Cross?
Full disclosure let me give you a good warning:
Do not read this Parashiot series unless you genuinely want to know what Yeshua says we are supposed to be doing today and how it parallels the bigger concepts and precepts that are contained in the first five books called the Torah of Moshe.
Do read this Parashiot series if you want to become a true disciple of Yeshua HaMashiach. And similarly, do read this study if you have truly sat down and counted the cost and are willing to know what it takes to cross over from the comforts and ease of the world and from the comforts and ease of mystery Babylon to start doing the righteous work of the kingdom. If that is the case, then join us as we journey together through this Parashah series starting in Parashah Shemote where we show the critical lessons we truly need to learn.
For those who have ears to hear, Nazarene Israel’s goal is to help every true disciple know what Yahweh wants them and their family to do. So that together we can build the kind of unified global kingdom that Yeshua tells us that He wants in the Renewed Covenant.
On Leaving Egypt
It is good to understand the situation at the start of the book of Shemote or Exodus. Israel (Jacob) had taken his family down into Egypt 430 years earlier at the invitation of his son Joseph (Joseph) who had become the number two man in all of Egypt by Yahweh’s favor.
Shemote (Exodus) 1:1-5
1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came, each one with his household:
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
5 All the people who descended from Jacob were seventy people, but Joseph was already in Egypt.
But Israel, Yoseph and all the patriarchs now slept, while a new Pharaoh arose. Pharaoh did not know Joseph and he did not want to.
Shemote (Exodus) 1:8
8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
He was afraid of our ancestors and out of fear he commanded all male Israelite children killed.
[Now, if Scripture works in cycles and in parallels are there perhaps any parallels between this Parashah and the weekly news of our day (June 2022)?]
After Pharaoh begins killing all the male Israelite children the people cry out. Yahweh then remembers His promises to the patriarchs.
Shemote (Exodus) 2:23
23 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage ascended to Elohim.
So, Yahweh then sends His humble servant named Moshe (Moses) to help His people, who at that time are slaves of Pharaoh; to leave Egypt and find their way to the promised land flowing with milk and honey.
Shemote (Exodus) 3:10
10 “And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”
After Yahweh did many great miracles in Egypt against Pharaoh, Israel was released from Egyptian governance, and they really had no leadership. The only leadership they had was from families. Yet since Israel and the patriarchs were no longer living, there was no real system to unify the families together as one nation. They needed a government. Because if you cannot hold the nation together then how can you serve Yahweh?
We can see that there is a need for governance among the various families of Israel (even today); to unify them and to bring them together around the worship of their Elohim.
When our forefathers left Egypt, they had no internal structure between them. So, Yahweh had to give them some order and organization. That is because Yahweh is the Elohim of order and does not want us to come to His land as a disorganized mob. Rather, Yahweh wants His mob-like children to transform themselves into becoming a well-ordered, well-organized, and well-disciplined nation of Israel. He wants His nation well organized because we can serve him so much better together that way.
In addition to having a separated priesthood, Israel was also to be ordered by their tribes. Within the tribes, they needed a system to order themselves so they could be an orderly nation. That is why four Parashiot (Torah portions) from now we are going to come to Parashah Yitro, in Exodus chapter eighteen. We will give a lot more details there, but we are going to see that Moshe’s father-in-law Yitro is going to advise Moshe to order and organize the people by thousands, by hundreds, by fifties and by tens. Later we are going to see how Yeshua uses this exact same system in the Renewed Covenant.
Application of Torah in the Melchizedekian Order
I have been in what you call the Messianic movement (the two-house, or the Ephraimite movement) since 1999. During the past couple of decades, I have been watching a lot of things happen inside the movement I have seen that we have a lot of what we might call Torah-obedient Ephraimites and others who are not really so Torah obedient because (for some reason) they believe that there are certain portions of the Torah that do apply to them, and other portions do not.
We at Nazarene Israel understand that we cannot perform the ceremonial or the sacrificial law at this moment. Right now, we understand that temple law is for when there is a temple. But there is a lot of people who are really confused as to what the Torah itself is and what we are supposed to be doing. We are hopeful to be able to clarify some of these things in this Parashah series. For example, we are going to see how we are not supposed to be operating under the Levitical order at this point in time. We are also going to see the parallels to the Levitical system, but we are going to see how we are supposed to be obeying the Melchizedekian order at this time. It has the same rules, concepts, and precepts, just a different ordering. That is because we are in a different phase of the operation.
I have heard it remarked that in the Christian church nothing of the Torah applies except tithing and the need for organization. While conversely, in the Messianic movement it is apparent that they believe that all the Torah still applies except for tithing and the need for order and organization. In that manner, the Christian and Messianic movements are mirror images of each other. They have the same issue with disobedience in that neither one of them wants to surrender completely to His Word; not simply doing every single thing that Yeshua said to do and that we can do in the dispersion.
[We talk all about that in our studies on Acts15 Order and we also cover it in Torah Government.]
For those people who talk against order and organization they talk about it as if we at Nazarene Israel are somehow preaching from the wrong mountain (or something). What we hope to show rather, is that we at Nazarene Israel, strive to do everything that Scripture says; ordering and organizing ourselves as the book of Acts implies.
We are following Scripture as closely as possible and, in that book, we see grounds for organization, tithing, in addition to other support, to build Yeshua a kingdom in the Melchizedekian order. That is what we see, and that is the point and the purpose of the body of Messiah.
On Being His Disciples
Yeshua spoke to the people in a parable, and He said a certain nobleman went off to a far kingdom to receive that kingdom and return. When he left, he gave all his servants a mina and said do business until I come. In this parable, Yeshua is the nobleman, and He wants us to use the mina (life) given to us to acquire more minas (saved lives) to grow His kingdom before He returns.
Luqa (Luke) 19:12-13
12 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’
That is what we are supposed to be doing. While He is going off to get a kingdom for Himself, He wants His proverbs 31 bride (Israel) to be busy building Him a kingdom. He wants us to be active in His work just as He is in His Father’s work. In addition, He wants us to be organized to accomplish our Father’s work as well, since we can do so much better as a unified body.
Again, that is why we are praising Yah, because this Parashah series begins in Parashah Shemote. Since in this book is when Israel initially comes together to become a kingdom. Laying the foundations for the new instructions Yeshua would later bring which apply while we are in the dispersion under the Melchizedekian order. We talk about all that in our studies.
The question is: How is it possible to build a unified global kingdom for Yeshua without tithing, order, and organization? Without these integral systems it will not work. It does not make any sense to not have these things in place, yet some people believe that it can work, and some people even teach as if they are not important whatsoever.
We all have important decisions to make in life and we all must sit down and count the cost of being Yeshua’s genuine disciple if we want to partake in His promise. As we are coming into these end times it is truly clear that we are going to need to stand up for what we believe.
Luqa (Luke) 14:27-28
27 “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it”
Going forward, we want to use this Parashah series to clarify things for people, but we also want you to make up your own mind. Additionally, we would love for you to get the most out of this commentary and want you to be like noble Bereans (Acts 17:11) in that we want you to study things out for yourself.
For you to do that and before we go any further, first we hope that you would read (or listen to) Parashah Shemote for yourself (which you can find in our 2022 Parashiot Schedule).
We want you to be able to receive any insights or revelations that Yahweh has for you. Then, once you have read it for yourself and once you have asked Yahweh what messages He has for you and pray about those messages, then we encourage you to resume this commentary.
Parashah HaShevua: Shemote (Exodus) 1:1-6:1
Now, let us catch up with the history of this book. At this time in the story, it has now been 430 years since Israel’s children went down into Egypt. Israel the father of the nation has long since died. In Shemote chapter one in verse six tells us that Yoseph and all the other tribal leaders were now dead as well.
Shemote (Exodus) 1:6
6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation.
What that means is that Israel no longer had a single surviving ancestor in common to serve as the unifying government of the nation. Since, if we think about it, when your father is alive, he serves effectively as the government for your family. Therefore, when one of the patriarchs was alive, he served as the government for the extended clan. So then, what can you do when all your fathers sleep?
When enough generations pass there is no longer a single surviving ancestor in common to serve as the government. Consequently, the extended clan becomes headless. Although the heads of the houses can get together and come to an agreement, it may not always work in tricky situations. The people of Israel needed leadership and they need direction.
In much the same way, once Israel had left Egypt’s malicious government behind, effectively Israel now had no government. Which left Israel in much the same condition as the Ephraimite movement of today.
We will go more into depth into this topic in some other place, but humans naturally need hierarchy and to serve someone. Here at Nazarene Israel, our decision in life is that we choose to serve Yahweh our Elohim with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:5
5 You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
The decision everyone here needs to make is: are we going to use all that we are given to help build His Son’s kingdom or will we end up by default serving some other kingdom? This is the situation that many in the Ephraimite movement find themselves in today. It is our firm belief that for our own survival we need to build Yeshua’s kingdom.
There are a lot of people that like the Messianic movement because they can rest on Set-apart days, they can read Scripture and they can tell themselves that they are keeping the whole Torah, but they are not. In reading Scripture, can we not see Matthew twenty-four knocking on the door; can we not understand the signs of the times?
Mattityahu (Mathew) 24: 12-14
12 And because lawlessness [Torahlessness] will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Brothers and sisters, this is the time to get it right. Only our Father knows the hour in which Yeshua will return. Therefore, there is truly never a moment that is better than this to do all we can for Him and His kingdom.
Mattityahu (Mathew) 24:42-44
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Master is coming.
43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Adam is coming at an hour you do not expect.
It may be as clear to you as it is to us at Nazarene Israel, how obvious it is that the new world order is coming and what will happen us if we do not do as our Master Yeshua says.
[Please check out Revelation News on our website if you are interested to know where we are on the Revelation timeline.]
A lot of people are fine with serving Yahweh just so long as it does not take any of their time or any of their money. If we want to be Yeshua’s disciples, then we need to genuinely walk as He walked. Being disciplined in doing the things Yeshua says to do in the Renewed Covenant.
Yochanan Aleph (1 John) 2:6
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
The problem is that people have gotten away with things for centuries, but in these end times it is not going to work for much longer. Either we need to serve Yahweh the way He says He wants to be served or we are going to have to face tribulation and correction. Is it not going to be a lot easier to do things His way from the beginning?
Continuing in Shemote
In Shemote chapter one, we have a situation in which Israel is effectively headless because they will soon leave Egypt. They are crying out for deliverance from being under Pharaoh’s yoke.
In addition to being leaderless, now in Shemote chapter one in verse eight, we are told that a new Pharaoh arose, and he did not know Joseph.
Shemote (Exodus) 1:8
8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
Pharaoh tried to convince the midwives Shiphrah and Puah to kill off all the male Hebrew children. What we see is a parallel that there is a worldly Egyptian/Babylonian government that is run by the elites for the elites. Which is the opposite to how it is in Yeshua’s kingdom where the strong are the ones serving the weak.
At a certain point, these kinds of governments can turn on their own subjects in this case Pharaoh tries to tell the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah to kill all the Israelite male children; thus, inciting genocide.
[Are there any parallels here for what is going on today? He who has ears to hear, let him hear.]
Then, the government of the elites, by the elites and for the elites arranges for the people to be worked to death. Therefore, the nation of Israel cries out and Yahweh sends Moshe as a messenger to the Israelite people who are trapped in bondage.
In Exodus chapter three we have the burning bush in which Yahweh appears to Moshe. Then in verse thirteen Yahweh tells Moshe to go to his people in Egypt to tell them that the Elohim of their fathers has sent him. Moshe then says that they are going to ask for His name.
Shemote (Exodus) 3:13
13 Then Moshe said to Elohim, “Indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
People tend to get wrapped up in the exact pronunciation of His name and we do believe there is a correct way, but we will talk about that in other places. It is good to try to pronounce His name correctly, but the only thing is in Hebrew the name represents so much more than just the sound of a name. It also represents the person and their character and the understanding of that person.
Back when the Israelites had been in slavery for 430 years, they did not even know what Yahweh’s name was. I know that many of us can relate to this since we did not know what Yahweh’s name was when we were lost in the Babylonian/Egyptian system.
What we need to see here is that just like the house of Ephraim would later forget who Yahweh Elohim was, Israel had also forgotten who Yahweh was and what He was all about. They understood that Israel had an Elohim, but they did not even know His name. They did not know His name, how they could know his character, or how to walk humbly with Him. Helping Him to get what He wants the way He wants it.
Brothers and sisters now that we are coming to know His name should we not walk together humbly with Him and help Him get what He wants, which is a kingdom for His son? That, my brethren, is our job. That is what the great commission’s all about.
Then we come to Shemote chapter five in verse eight. In this chapter, the Egyptian/Babylonian government is beginning to persecute the Israelites trying to get them to stop wanting to serve Yahweh. When the people ask to serve Yahweh by going to make sacrifices to Him, they begin to get even worse treatment than before.
Shemote (Exodus) 5:8
8 And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our Elohim.’
Finally, by exodus chapter six in verse one, Israel has cried out. Yahweh now says that He is ready to act.
Shemote (Exodus) 6:1
1 Then Yahweh said to Moshe, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
In the next parashah (Parashah Va’era) we are going to see how Yahweh will begin to plague Pharaoh and tear down all the idols of Egypt. We are also going to see, as this Parashah, series progresses that once Yahweh frees Israel from Pharaoh’s kingdom, Yahweh is going to give Israel instructions that help lay the groundwork for His Son Yeshua’s coming kingdom.
On Prophetic Portions
In a separate study, we are also going to explain why it is that, while we maintain the same Torah portions as the orthodox do, we do need to reserve the right to change the prophetic portion as needed. We also need the right to change the Brit Hadassah (Renewed Covenant) portion as needed to make the points that we need to make to help Ephraim with the Parashah. We do assign the prophetic portion and we can stay with it if we want, or we can also depart from it if it is necessary.
For people who think that we do not have the authority to do that we will look to Leviticus Chapter twenty-three in verse three. This verse tells us that we should assemble and while it implies that we read Scripture, but there is no Torah commandment from Yahweh to read the assigned prophetic portions (that some orthodox rabbi produced however
many years or centuries ago).
Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:3
3 ‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a Set-apart gathering. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath to Yahweh Elohim in all your dwellings.
Rather, the commandment in Leviticus twenty-three in verse three is that we might have a called-out assembly to read the word of Yahweh and to study the His Word together to form communities and learn about Yahweh and His word so that we can all know who He is. We seek to know what His word says not just so that we can know it but so that we can also do it as one organization. That is what Elohim really wants.
Parashah Haftarah: Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 27:6-28:13
In verse 6 Yahweh is talking about what brother Judah calls the messianic age. This is also what Ephraim sometimes calls the millennium. We know that the millennium comes after the tribulation and after Armageddon. As we show in the Torah Government study, that is when we as Yeshua’s bride will finally become one flesh with Him which is during this messianic age or during the millennium.
As we show in Revelation and the End Times, the millennium is when we are going to be serving as Yeshua’s body; working as His hands and His feet. While our Head (Yeshua) directs His body from the heavenly realms.
We begin our prophetic reading in book of Yeshayahu (Isaiah) in chapter twenty-seven, verse six in which he says that Yahweh shall cause those returning gentile Ephraimites to take root in Jacob. Meaning, as Ephraim we are going to be returning to the land of Israel.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 27:6
6 Those who come He shall cause to take root in Yaakov; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Again, Yeshayahu is talking about what are called the returning gentile Ephraimites. Ephraimites are sometimes alluded to as the house of Ephraim or the house of Israel. In other places in Scripture, they are also sometimes called the lost ten tribes, colloquially. When Yeshayahu says that Yahweh shall cause them to take root in Jacob what that means is that when the returning gentile Ephraimites come home they are going to merge into what is left of brother Judah (the Orthodox Jewish nation) after Armageddon. When Yahweh spoke through Yeshaya saying “Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit,” here Yahweh is making a
play on words between the different names of the northern house of Israel which is also called the house of Ephraim.
Strong’s Hebrew Concordance tells us the term Ephraim means a dual (or a doubling).
H669 Ephrayim (ef-rah’-yim); And it is a dual (or a doubling, or an intensive form) of a masculine form of H672; double fruit; Ephrajim, a son of Joseph; also the tribe descended from him, and its territory: – Ephraim, Ephraimites
Now we will look at the reference because it helps to know what all the words mean. We see that it is Strong’s Hebrew Concordance H672 and that is ephrat or ephrathah which is a remarkably interesting word because it comes from H6509 meaning: fruitfulness.
H672 efrath (ef-rawth) or ephrathah (ef-raw’thaw), from H6509; fruitfulness; Ephrath, which is another name for Bethlehem [Beit Lechem which translates as “the house of bread”.]
However, there is also something implied which we need to understand. In Hebraic thought, bread and war are both related concepts because war is what comes from bread (energy/calories). When a kingdom has a surplus of bread, they can fuel a war. Similarly, when you do not have enough bread (energy/calories), then strife ensues over the bread or grain in the land. Because of this, the term Beit Lechem can also be properly translated as “the house of war.”
The point here is that Ephraim and ephrathah are closely related concepts in Scripture and in Hebraic thought. Let us just bear that in mind and we will see it pop up again later.
Then in Isaiah chapter twenty-seven and verse twelve he prophesies about the borders of the millennial land of Israel and how they are going to be expanded to make room for the returning gentile Ephraimites.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 27:12
12 And it shall come to pass in that day that Yahweh will thresh, from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.
The channel of the river that is referring to the great river of Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt. There is a long-standing discussion if, in this verse, the Brook of Egypt refers to the Nile (as we believe) or if it refers to the Wadi El-Arish which is the traditional southwestern border the of land of Israel.
The millennial kingdom is going to be much larger than it is today. Then Isaiah also talks about our eventual in gathering back in the land of Israel after the great tribulation after Armageddon.
[If you want to know more about these things, we have covered that in some detail in our study on Revelation and the End Times. On YouTube our video series is called Revelation Simplified]
In this last verse, when Isaiah says “you will be gathered one by one you children of Israel” he is talking about the house of Ephraim (the children of Israel, the children of Ephraim or sometimes referred to as the lost 10 tribes are all pointing to us who are lost in the dispersion in the Egyptian/Babylonian system).
Isaiah goes on in chapter twenty-seven in verse three prophesying about those who are lost spiritually in the world, to which Yahweh will bring back to worship Him in the Set-apart Mountain in Jerusalem.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 27:13
13 So it shall be in the day: The great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship Yahweh in the Set-apart mount of Jerusalem.
In this verse He is promising that His people who are lost in the dispersion and are captives of the Egyptian/Babylonian system will be coming home. That is us (praise Yah!).
Parashah Haftarah: Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 29:22-23
The next part of our prophetic portion is also extremely fitting for us at Nazarene Israel since these also speak about when His children come home.
In chapter twenty-nine verse twenty-two, Yahweh speaks by the mouth of Isaiah the prophet, explaining that some of the house of Yaakov (brother Judah/Orthodox Jews) who are in the land of Israel will survive the great tribulation and they will be alive to receive the lost ten tribes when they come home. Although it will come at a terrible price to pay, they will survive, and they will not become ashamed, nor grow pale.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 29:22
22 Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Avraham, concerning the house of Yaakov: “Yaakov shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face grow pale;
Then in verse twenty-three, Yahweh says that when the remanent of the Orthodox Jews who made it through the great tribulation witness the returning Ephraimites coming back to the land, that they will praise the Elohim of Israel and fear Him.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 29:23
23 But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will hallow My name, and hallow the Set-apart One of Yaakov, and fear the Elohim of Israel.
Let us do all we can to help bring all the Ephraimites back home. We know that everything is going to turn out well for everyone who genuinely loves Elohim and obeys Him.
Brit Chadasha Chosen by Messianic Rabbis: Matthew 2:1-12
This passage talks about the wise men who followed the star in the east to visit Yeshua at His birth.
Now, I am not exactly sure how the messianic rabbis who added this New Testament portion would link Yeshua’s birth with Parashah Shemote. You could say that Moshe came as a deliverer and then Yeshua came as an even greater deliverer. That may be their connection, but I am not sure. It seems like good insight, but it does not really tell us anything we can use to further the great commission. That is what we are going to be held responsible for at the day of judgment, is did we do all in our power to help further Yeshua’s Kingdom?
We could also make the connection that first we meet Moshe who came to bring Israel out of Egypt. This would come to pass in order that Yahweh could then give Israel His Torah at mount Sinai; resulting in our forefathers unknowingly beginning to establish Yeshua’s ordered kingdom.
Also, as an interesting side note: Since Yahweh has never left the throne room, it had to have been Yeshua who was speaking to our forefathers in the wilderness.
[We talked more about that in Yeshua: Manifestation of Yahweh which is part of the book on our website called: Nazarene Scripture Studies Volume One.]
What many Messianic and Ephraimites need to understand is that the Levitical instructions or what is called the Levitical Torah does not do much for us when we are outside the land of Israel; in the dispersion under the Melchizedekian order. Similarly, the Melchizedekian order Torah does not apply in the Levitical order. The two things are distinct and yet both still serve Yahweh. Since the death and resurrection of our Messiah we have been under the Melchizedekian order. Yeshua gave us His Renewed Covenant, Melchizedekian Torah or otherwise referred to as Yeshua’s Torah.
A lot of believers do not seem to realize that Yeshua Himself is the one who commanded the five-fold ministry of Ephesians chapter four. In which He explains that we are supposed to unify the five-fold ministry on a unified foundation of apostles and prophets.
Ephesim (Ephesians) 4:11-12
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some propjets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Messiah.
That is how Yeshua wants us to fulfill His great commission. Through the five-fold ministry; unified on a global scale with a single foundation of apostles and prophets. Which we also refer to as the foundation of apostles and elders.
[Find more information on that in our study: Torah Government as well as in Acts 15 Order.]
We ourselves need to walk as closely as we can to Yeshua’s example to fulfil the great commission. In that we associate with the other brethren who want to do the same thing. Working together while submitting first to Yahweh Elohim and His Spirit. Then submitting next to one another. That is how we will establish Yeshua’s global kingdom here on this earth.
That is why we say in the disciple’s prayer that His will be done, and that the kingdom of heaven will come. That is why we pray that He will use us as His hands and His feet to do His will on earth as it is in heaven.
Mattityahu (Mathew) 6:9-10
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We do not use the temple law outside the land of Israel in dispersion because there is no cleansed temple outside the land. Also, there is no cleansed Levitical priesthood and the one they are cooking up right now in the temple institute is far from clean. The temple law does not go away when we are outside the land of Israel, it is just that we do not need it because we have a different mission right now. We have a different mission meaning the great com-mission (get it?). Which is His commandment to us to raise up his kingdom in every nation on earth. We need to go into every nation to find all the lost Ephraimites and all of Judah who is sojourning with Ephraim.
Mattityahu (Mathew) 28:19-20
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, immersing them in My name,
20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amein.
The exciting part is that we are not alone. Yeshua our Savior has an active plan for how we are to do that. That is what Yeshua’s instructions in Ephesians four, Ephesians two and in other places are all about.
Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:19-22
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of Elohim, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Messiah Himself being the chief cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in Yahweh,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of Elohim in the Spirit.
Just as the Levitical order needed to become organized to serve Yahweh so too do, we in the Melchizedekian order.
I hope it is obvious at this point that we do not really need to follow the Brit Chadasha (New Testament) portion that some messianic rabbis produced because it is not appropriate for us to use. The Messianic rabbis have a different world view, different eschatology, or different goals that they are going for. They preach a broader easier road (or a more difficult road depending upon the version).
While the Messianic rabbi prescribed portion may offer some interesting insight, in Nazarene Israel what we need is a Brit Chadasha portion that gives us some tools we can use. We are here in these end times and if there was ever a time to get our walk right and to be found doing what Yeshua says it is now.
Nazarene Israel Assigned Brit Chadasha: Luqa (Luke) 9
For those reasons that we shared above we decided to assign Luke chapter nine as the Brit Chadasha reading. We chose this specific chapter because Luca (Luke) chapter nine is when Yeshua fed the five thousand. More specifically, it is also where Yeshua begins ordering and organizing His disciples. He begins training them to become the new priests of His kingdom.
Luqa (Luke) 1:32-33
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and Yahweh Elohim will give Him the throne of His father David.
33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom there will be no end.
I want you to notice that we are going to see a lot of parallels in the structure between the Levitical order and the Melchizedekian order. Just as Yahweh would establish a Levitical order through Moshe’s blood brother Aharon (which later fell away), in this chapter in Luke, Yahweh is now re-establishing the original renewed Melchizedekian order. That which His son came to bring, which is Nazarene Israel. Notice that Yahweh is doing that through the spiritual brothers of Yeshua.
Well, things got a little off track for a time, times, and half a time as the faith migrated outside the land of Israel, and the concept of Torah as the bride’s marital covenant became lost and replaced with Catholic and Christian doctrines that de-emphasized the Torah. About the concept of the Torah there was no possibility. There had to be a Great Falling Away. If the Bride does not have her covenant, then she has nothing to come to. So, she scatters and disperses.
Now it is Yahweh’s time for Ephraim to begin to re-establish himself as a nation. It is time for Ephraim to begin coming out of Egypt. As we continue in this Parashah series, we are going to watch Moshe lead the children of Israel with Yahweh’s instruction morphing the nation of Israel from being merely an extended clan (as they were in Genesis) to becoming an organized lawful set-apart nation. A nation of kings and priests that is dedicated to serving Yahweh the way He says He wants to be served. Is this not that what we in Ephraim really want? To become a nation unto Yahweh Elohim once more?
What better way than to read this Parashah series and to study the patterns that took place in the beginning. These are the same patterns that we are going to see repeat themselves over and repeatedly throughout Israel’s long history. This is not always an exact parallel, but usually there is similarity. Or as they say, “history doesn’t always repeat itself sometimes it only rhymes.” In any case, there are certain patterns in the Torah that we are going to see play repeatedly.
Trust me, the more of Yahweh’s Word that we know the better we can see those patterns and thus the better off we are.
Notice for example how Yeshua has His disciples order and organize the people in Luke chapter nine in verse fourteen. Yeshua told the disciples to make the five thousand men sit down in groups of fifty. There would have been about a hundred groups of fifty.
Luqa (Luke 9:14
14 For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.”
Briefly notice now that in four Parashiot from now in Parashah Yitro in Exodus chapter eighteen we are going to see Moshe’s father-in-law Yitro, advise Moshe to appoint righteous rulers as judges over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. In that way they are better able to judge (meaning rightly lead) the people at all times. And if Moshe would organize the people as Elohim so commanded him that he and all the children of Israel would be able to endure. Eventually being able to go home to their place in Shalom. All that, just because they organized.
The point of organizing is to become a unified organism. So that the whole of the people can all work together as one body. Enabling them to endure and be able to go back home to their place in Shalom as the Renewed Covenant also says.
If the purpose is so that we can endure and go back home to our place in shalom, then why are there so many Ephraimites reluctant to organize? Why are there so many leaders and teachers speaking against organization when the commandments to organize according to the ancient Beit Din structure are found all through the Renewed Covenant?
Brothers and sisters, I ask you, is this not what we all need in these end times; to be able to endure so we can go back home to our place in Shalom? Can we now see how organization would benefit us in that? Can we see how we are going to need organization to help find all the lost Ephraimites in order that we can go home?
If you understand that Yeshua Himself was the one that commanded these things, then what are you willing to do with that information?
Brothers and sisters, our day of judgment before the great white throne has to do with what we knew and what we did with what we knew. Let me ask you then, why are some people so against organizing according to the letter of Scripture?
Since Yeshua died for us then how much of our lives are we willing to give up for Him?
How can we expect a reward if we are not willing to obey His words regardless of what they are?
What we are going to see throughout this Parasha series is that disorganization is wrong. Disorganization is neither a principle of Elohim nor of Yeshua’s Torah. That is because Yahweh is an Elohim of order, and the same goes for all the assemblies of His set-apart ones.
Qorintim Aleph (1 Corinthians) 14:33
33 For Elohim is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the set-apart ones.
Please join us for Parashah Va’era in which we are going to see how if we will remain faithful to Yahweh that He will take care of us during these end times. We are also going to see that He does not accept the worship of foreign elohim (gods).
Thank you for reading our weekly Parashah series.
Dear brothers and sisters may Yahweh please be with you.
Shalom.
Yochanan (John) 15:9-10
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”