The Jeremiah Study from Tabernacle of David Restored, in Edom
Presented by Jaco van der Merwe
The Tabernacle of David Restored in Edom
Produced by Kimberly Rogers Brown – The Messianic Message
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Jeremiah Study Part-2 Lesson-8 Jeremiah and the Last Kings of Israel.pdf
DISCLAIMER! WHEN WE SAY THE WORD “JEWS” or “THE JEWS”, WE MEAN THE RELIGIOUS JEWS, THE CHABAD CABAL AND OTHER JEWISH LEADERSHIP AND THOSE FROM THE HOUSE OF JUDAH WHO SUBSCRIBE TO CHABAD’S EVIL DOCTRINES. I DO NOT MEAN CULTURAL JEWS OR ALL JEWISH PEOPLE!
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In this Midrash we connect Deuteronomy Chapters 12 and 14 to the teaching and explain why we are not allowed to keep the feast anywhere else but in Jerusalem, and what to do if it is not possible to go to Jerusalem. Please listen to this Midrash as we explain more detail regarding the Zephaniah 3:18 connection to the Feasts and Jerusalem.
Tuesday Midrash
I want to quote some Scripture before we start:
Mat 23:8-10 MJKV But you must not be called Rabbi, for One is your teacher, Christ, and you are all brothers. And call no one your father on the earth, for One is your Father in Heaven. Nor be called teachers, for One is your Teacher, even Christ.
2Ti 3:13-17 MKJV But evil men and seducers will go forward to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue in the things that you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from a babe you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfected, thoroughly furnished to every good work.
Col 2:8-12 MKJV Beware lest anyone rob you through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in whom also you were raised through the faith of the working of God, raising Him from the dead.
Jeremiah Study – Jeremiah and the Last Kings of Israel – Part 2 Lesson 8
King Josiah and the feasts
I want to quote Isaiah 28:9-13 before we begin
Isa 28:9 MKJV Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Those weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10 MKJV For precept must be on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little;
Isa 28:11 MKJV for with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people.
Isa 28:12 MKJV To whom He said, This is the rest; cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing. Yet they were not willing to hear.
Isa 28:13 MKJV But the Word of Jehovah was to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken.
Intro
King Josiah was 8 years old when he became King in Jerusalem. He ruled for 31 years and died during an attack on an Egyptian Army who was passing through the land of Israel traveling to Carchemish by the Euphrates.
He did right in the sight of Yahweh and walked in all the ways that King David did and he did not turn to the side wither to the right or to the left. And there was no king like him before him or even after him, who turned to Yahweh with all his heart, soul and might according to all the Law of Moses.
At the age of 16 Josiah began to seek after Yahweh. At the age of 18, he started to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherahs, the carved and the moulted images. He continued with this for 8 years until he was 26 years old. He did not stop at the boarders of the land of Judah, but continued throughout the lands of Israel and went as far North as the lands of Naphtali. He also covered the width of Israel through the lands of Manasseh and cleaned all up according to all the commandments in the Book of the Law.
At the age of 26, in the 18th year of King Josiah’s reign, he gave order that the House of Yahweh had to be restored. It was during this time that the book of the Law was found by Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah, and it was brought to the attention of the King.
Jeremiah was a chosen Prophet by Yahweh during the time of King Josiah and he was calling all Israel to repentance. Before the book of the Law was found, it was on the prophecies of Jeremiah that King Josiah was acting in destroying the Ba’al worship from the lands of Israel.
But, after the book of the Law was found and read to the King, he tore his clothes because of the message of condemnation that was written in it. The sins of Israel were very severe and King Josiah sent Hilkiah the High Priest together with some others to go enquire from Yahweh if this Covenant that was made with Him, was still valid.
The Judgment of Israel and Judah were prophesied since many generations before King Josiah, but the last time, during the time of King Hezekiah, Yahweh had mercy on the House of Judah because of the promise that was made to King David, that one of his descendants will become a King forever on the throne in Jerusalem. For clarity purpose, we call this promised Seed, King Messiah.
The Kings men came to Huldah the prophetess. She enquired from Yahweh and the message return was that Yahweh will not turn away from the wrath of the condemnation that was written in the book of the Law. Yahweh commended Josiah for his efforts and tender heart to return to Yahweh, but this time, the wrath of Yahweh would not be turned away. Yahweh would hold His wrath till after the death of King Josiah.
It would be about this time that the prophet Zephaniah started to prophecy the prophecies of destruction and tribulation on the House of Judah. Jeremiah’s message of repentance also changed into a message of tribulation and destruction. King Josiah’s heart was right with Yahweh, but he had to force the people of Judah and Israel to return to Yahweh and he also had to kill a lot of Idolatress priests and break down many High places by force to get the people to repent.
King Josiah ruled with an Iron rod and enforced the Covenant on the people. He called all the people that were willing to come to Jerusalem, and re-established Yahweh’s covenant with them. Then he went ahead and restored the Levitical Priesthood and re-established the feats of Yahweh, starting with the Pesach. It was in the 18th year of King Josiah, meaning that he was 26 years old when he restored Temple worship to Yahweh and destroyed all the idolatry from the Temple.
Because of the Remnant of Israel
Josiah ruled for 13 more years after the restoration of the Temple and the feasts of Yahweh and according to our understanding he ruled the people according to the Book of the Law, not turning to the left or the right from following it. But why would he do so, after he was told by Huldah the prophetess that Yahweh would not withhold His wrath again like He did during the time of King Hezekiah? Because of the remnant.
Ever since the prophecies of destruction started with Amos and all the prophets after him, the message of a remnant and the restoration of Israel was being prophesied as well. We don’t know if the prophecies were canonized, but just like we have it today, the writings of the prophets would have been available to King Josiah and he would have been aware of them.
During King Josiah’s reform, he re-established the lands of the lost tribes of Israel under the throne of Judah. The Remnant that was left would have gone to the Temple for the 3 pilgrimage feats and by doing so, they would have been assimilated under Judah. So, the righteous of both Houses would haven been kept under the umbrella of the House of Judah until King Messiah’s return.
In the book of Zephaniah, in chapter 2 we read the following:
Zep 2:1 MKJV Gather yourselves together; yea, gather, O nation not desired;
Zep 2:2 MKJV before the birth of the decree, the day shall pass like the chaff; yet not before the hot anger of Jehovah comes on you, yet not before the day of Jehovah’s anger comes on you.
Zep 2:3 MKJV Seek Jehovah, all the meek of the earth who have done His justice; seek righteousness; seek meekness. It may be you shall be hidden in the day of Jehovah’s anger.
What about the Remnant that was scattered abroad? King Solomon gave an answer to this when he did the Temple dedication. This is important to understand, since Yahweh agreed to this and it goes back to the Torah commandment that 3 times a year, all Israel will appear at the place that Yahweh wrote His Name.
1Ki 8:16-19 MKJV From the day that I brought forth My people Israel out of Egypt, I did not choose any city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, so that My name might be in it. But I chose David to be over My people Israel. And it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. And Jehovah said to my father David, because it was in your heart to build a house to My name, you did well that it was in your heart. Only, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall come out of your loins, he shall build the house to My name.
1Ki 8:28-29 MKJV Yet, O, Jehovah my God, You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant and to his request, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; for Your eyes to be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, My name shall be there; to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.
1Ki 8:30 MKJV And You shall listen to the cry of Your servant, and of Your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, and hear in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and when You hear, forgive!
Yahweh’s dwelling is in the heavens. King Solomon’s prayer was that Yahweh keep His eyes on the place that He chose to write His Name, and then look and see and hear those who pray towards this place where Yahweh put His Name, and have mercy on them when they ask forgiveness for their sins.
According to Torah, the forgiveness of sins needs to be done with a sacrifice at the Tabernacle entrance, and then later at the Temple only. But, what about those who cannot make it? Up until the time of King Solomon, the Tabernacle and then the Temple was always available and people had access to it. After the Kingdom split between Israel and Judah, it was not so any more. We have learned that for most of the History of the Kings, that the Temple wasn’t even in operation in the way that it was written in the Torah.
For the most part, the people of all Israel did not care for the Temple, because of their idolatry, but there was always a remnant. We read in the story of Elijah that after his complaint that he was all alone, Yahweh told Elijah that there was a remnant of 7000 others that did not bend the knee to Ba’al during the time of King Ahab and Jezebel. And during the time of Queen Athaliah, Judah were worshiping Ba’al at the Temple of Yahweh.
So, what did the remnant do about the commandment of the 3 pilgrimage feats?
1Ki 8:33-34 MKJV When Your people Israel are crushed before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and shall turn again to You and confess Your name, and pray, and cry to You in this house, then hear in Heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again into the land which You gave to their fathers.
1Ki 8:41-43 MKJV And concerning a stranger who is not of Your people Israel, but who comes out of a far country for Your name’s sake; for they shall hear of Your great name and of Your strong hand and of Your stretched-out arm; and if he shall come and pray toward this house, hear in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to You for, so that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as Your people Israel do , and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.
1Ki 8:44-45 MKJV If Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You shall send them, and shall pray to Jehovah toward the city which You have chosen, and the house that I have built for Your name, then hear in Heaven their prayer and their cry, and maintain their cause.
1Ki 8:46 MKJV If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and if You are angry with them, and have delivered them up before the enemy, and they have been led away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near,
1Ki 8:47-50 MKJV yet if they shall think within themselves in the land where they are carried captives, and repent, and pray to You in the land of their captors saying, We have sinned and have done perversely, we have done wickedly, and so return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and if they pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, to the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name, then hear their prayer and their cry in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, even all their sins which they have done against You, and give them pity before their captors, so that they may have pity on them.
1Ki 8:51 MKJV For they are Your people, and Your inheritance…
Take note that there is a flow on words from “in this House” to “towards this House” to “towards the land” and “towards the city”. The way that these passages are written is in a form of a prophecy.
Does this mean that they did not have to go to Jerusalem for the feast anymore? No, of course not. We are not allowed to add to, or take away from the Torah as it was given by Moses. But, if there are commandments that we can not keep, we can pray and ask forgiveness for them, where ever we are scattered to in the world, near and far from the land of our fathers, by turning towards the land and the city that Yahweh has chosen to write His Name.
And this then bring us back to the prophet Zephaniah.
Zep 1:4-6 MKJV I will also stretch out My hand on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem. And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, the name of the idol-worshipers, with the priests, and those bowing to the host of heaven on the housetops, and those bowing, swearing to Jehovah, also swearing by Malcham; and those drawing back from Jehovah, and who have not sought Jehovah, nor asked for Him.
King Josiah did all this already during his reformation when he destroyed all the High places and the Asherah poles and killed the priests that burned incense to Ba’al and the hosts of the heavens. So, this prophecy would have been spoken before and during his reformation.
Zephaniah’s prophecy has a near and a far fulfilment and it stretches over time. It is a process. The following prophecy will happen during the end of Zedekiah’s reign and will be repeated in more detail by Jeremiah during the reign of King Jehoiakim.
Zep 1:8-9 MKJV And it shall be in the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice, I will punish the rulers, and the king’s sons, and all who are clothed in foreign clothing. And I will punish all those who leap on the threshold in that day, who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.
In Zephaniah Chapter 2, he gives prophecy on the enemies of Israel. Jeremiah will do the same in much more detail and we will discuss them during the progression of our study.
We learned that King Josiah restored the Passover and then ruled for 13 more years in which he did not turn away from following Yahweh. King Josiah did a covenant renewal by reading the book of the Covenant to the people and have them agree in the keeping of the commandments. In the book of the Law it states that this must be done every 7 years, so King Josiah did this at least 1 more time during his reign in Jerusalem. The people turned to Yahweh with deceit in their heart and continuing with our Jeremiah study, we will learn that the people did not return to Yahweh but fell again to idolatry after King Josiah’s death.
And this gave Jeremiah the ground to tell the people that they have broken the Covenant of Yahweh as we have read in Jeremiah Chapter 11 Last week.
Jer 11:10-11 MKJV They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My Words. And they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers. So Jehovah says this: Behold, I will bring evil on them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry to Me, I will not listen to them.
Let us have a look at Zephaniah Chapter 3:
Judgment on Jerusalem and the Nations
Zep 3:1 MKJV Woe to her rebelling and becoming defiled, to the oppressing city!
Zep 3:2 MKJV She did not obey the voice; she did not receive correction. She trusted not in Jehovah; she did not draw near to her God.
Zep 3:3 MKJV Her rulers within her are roaring lions; her judges evening wolves. They do not gnaw bones for the morning.
Zep 3:4 MKJV Her prophets are proud, men of deceit; her priests have defiled the sanctuary; they have done violence to the Law.
Zep 3:5 MKJV The just Jehovah is in her midst; He will not act perversely. Every morning He gives His justice to the light; He fails not; but the perverse knows no shame.
Zep 3:6 MKJV I have cut off the nations; their towers are ruined. I made their streets waste, so that none passes by; their cities are laid waste, without a man, there being no inhabitant.
Zep 3:7 MKJV I said, Surely you will fear Me; you will receive instruction; then her dwelling shall not be cut off, all that I appointed for her. But they rose early, corrupting all their doings.
Zep 3:8 MKJV Therefore wait for Me, says Jehovah, for the day I rise up to the prey; for My judgment is to gather the nations, for Me to collect the kingdoms, to pour on them My fury, all My hot anger. For all the earth shall be burned up with the fire of My jealousy.
Verse 8 is a far fulfilment prophecy that will happen during the Tribulation of Yahweh’s Judgment. The following verses tell us the reason and result of this coming Judgment:
The Conversion of the Nations
Zep 3:9 MKJV For then I will give a clear lip to the people, to call all of them by the name of Jehovah, to serve Him with one shoulder.
Zep 3:10 MKJV From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, My worshipers, the daughter of My scattered ones, shall bring My food offering.
Zep 3:11 MKJV In that day you shall not be ashamed for all your doings in which you have transgressed against Me; for then I will withdraw from your midst those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall never again be proud in My holy mountain.
Zep 3:12 MKJV I will also leave in your midst a poor and weak people, and they shall trust in the name of Jehovah.
Zep 3:13 MKJV The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies, and a deceitful tongue shall not be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Verse 13 is in the context of the House of Judah that gives repentance with a deceitful heart.
Jer 3:10 MKJV And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says Jehovah.
Jer 5:23 MKJV But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and are gone.
Jer 7:24 MKJV But they did not listen, nor bow their ear, but walked in their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
Jer 9:14 MKJV but they have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.
Jer 9:15 MKJV Therefore so says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water.
Jer 9:16 MKJV I will also scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.
The Feasts after Exile
Israel’s Joy and Restoration
Zep 3:14 MKJV Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Zep 3:15 MKJV Jehovah has turned off your judgments; He has cast out your enemy. The king of Israel, Jehovah, is in your midst; you shall not fear evil any more.
Zep 3:16 MKJV In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not! Do not let not your hands droop, Zion.
Zep 3:17 MKJV Jehovah your God is mighty in your midst; He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy; He is silent in His love; He rejoices over you with joyful shout.
Zep 3:18 KJV I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
Zep 3:19 MKJV Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you. And I will save her who is lame, and gather her who was driven out. And I will give them for a praise and for a name in all the land of their shame.
Zep 3:20 MKJV In that time I will bring you, even in the time that I gather you; for I will give you for a name and for a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, says Jehovah.
Zep 3:18 is one of those verses that are translated badly. The words in Hebrew for “solemn assembly” is “min mô‛êd”.
Strong’s number H4150 for “mô‛êd”
– properly an appointment, that is, 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
The MKJV, together with many other translations mess this up completely and therefore I used the KJV for this verse.
Zep 3:18 KJV I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
Zep 3:18 MKJV I will gather the afflicted ones from the appointed place; they were from you, a lifting up of reproach over her.
However, the CJB have the best version for this translation. So, let’ read the last verses again:
Zep 3:18 CJB “I will gather those of yours who grieve over the appointed feasts and bear the burden of reproach. [because they cannot keep them]
Zep 3:19 CJB When that time comes, I will deal with all those who oppress you. I will save her who is lame, gather her who was driven away, and make them whose shame spread over the earth the object of praise and renown.
Zep 3:20 CJB When that time comes, I will bring you in; when that time comes, I will gather you and make you the object of fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth—when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says Adonai.
“And I will bring you in, I will gather you.” Zep 3:15: “Jehovah has turned off your judgments; He has cast out your enemy. The king of Israel, Jehovah, is in your midst; you shall not fear evil anymore.” This gives us the timing of this prophecy and forms part of the final ingathering.
A subject that I did not discuss yet within this study is that Yahweh is planning and prophesying about a final ingathering for the end of the latter generation. We will discuss this during Part 3 of our study. Let’s just focus on the feasts for now.
In the Book of the Law, the book of Deuteronomy, Moses told us that we should not add to the commandments or take away from the commandments that he gave us at the boarder of the Jordan just before the 2nd generation crossed over it. He told us that everything that he gave us in that Law is for our wisdom and understanding. He also told us that it is our Righteousness.
Deu 4:2 MKJV You shall not add to the Word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, so that you may keep the commands of Jehovah your God which I command you.
Deu 4:6 MKJV And you shall keep and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations…
Deu 6:25 MKJV And if we are careful to do all this commandment before Jehovah our God, as He has commanded us, it shall be our righteousness.
Deu 12:32 MKJV All the things I command you, be careful to do it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
These verses are not debatable. These commandments can not be removed by anything that was written by any King, Prophet or Apostle that came after the giving of this Torah. And none of the Apostles or Prophets did so. King Jeroboam changed this law, and every King in Ephraim after Him, walked in this sin of Jeroboam up until King Hosea of Israel, who did not. Even Yeshua, the chosen seed of King David, made it clear that even He did not come to do away with the Torah or the Prophets until everything is finished in its right time, which would be, after He regathered His people from the 4 corners of the earth.
Mat 5:17-18 MKJV Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.
Deu 30:1-3 MKJV And it shall be when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and when you shall call them to mind among all the nations where Jehovah your God has driven you, and shall return to Jehovah your God and shall obey His voice according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, with all your heart, and with all your soul, then Jehovah your God will turn your captivity. And He will have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the nations where Jehovah your God has scattered you.
Now, what then about the times that Israel could not go to Jerusalem for the feats? Remember that Jeroboam, the 1st King of the House of Ephraim forbid his people by a new law that they were not allowed to go to Jerusalem after he set up the golden calf worship in his lands. Or, what about the times that there was war between Israel and Judah? Or, even the times that the Temple was not functioning? Well, the people of Yahweh walk in Unrighteousness and sin throughout most of there generations. This is why they never received the “rest” that Yahweh promised them and eventually, the Covenant was broken and we read about it in Jeremiah Chapter 11:10: “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My Words. And they went after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
Up until the time of King Solomon, the Tabernacle was always available, and there was always a remnant of Priests that operated the Tabernacle. During the Temple dedication of Solomon, Yahweh chose a place out of one of the Tribes, the Tribe of the House of David, to write His Name. Yahweh chose Jerusalem because of the Righteousness of King David and for that reason only. It is connected to the promise of King Messiah who would come from the loins of King David. Yahweh gave a contingency for when His people could not go to that place that He wrote His Name. Before the Temple, the chosen place for the feasts where at the entrance of the Tabernacle. In the Temple dedication, Solomon asked Yahweh to have His eyes on the Temple, The City and the Land and that anybody that is scattered away from the land, may pray towards the place that Yahweh put His Name to have their sins forgiven.
Yahweh agreed to this in 1Kings 9:3: “And Jehovah said to him, I have heard your prayer and your cry which you have made before Me. I have made this house which you have built holy, to put My name there forever. And My eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.”
Yahweh also told King Solomon that if he or his descendants do not continue in following His commandments, he will destroy the Temple:
1Ki 9:6-7 MKJV If you shall at all turn from following Me, you or your sons, and will not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the face of the land which I have given them. And this house which I have made holy for My name I will cast out of My sight. And Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.
This did not remove Yahweh’s Name from the city of Jerusalem. The commandment in The Torah about the 3 times a year, all the men will appear before Yahweh in the place that He chose to put His Name, did not become void because of the Temple’s destruction. No Temple means no sacrifices, but the commandments given in Deuteronomy Chapter 12 are not dependent on a Temple or Sacrifices. Also, those people that was scattered because of war and because of their sin could not bring Sacrifices to the Temple entrance because of Exile in any case, but Yet Solomon asked that Yahweh would forgive their sins. Yahweh agreed to this. But, the condition to this was given by the prophet Zephaniah 3:18 “I will gather those of yours who grieve over the appointed feasts and bear the burden of reproach. [because they cannot keep them]
What about today? I understand, for the most part, almost all Bible Translations have this verse translated wrongly. But keep in mind, that for the most part of our generations, we also did not keep the Shabbat of Yahweh. We cannot say for certain for how long, but for the most part of our generations in the Church, we were taught that the Law of Yahweh was done away with. Now believe me, because of the sin of Jeroboam, those of the Northern tribes thought the same. King Hezekiah and King Josiah were the only kings of Judah that restored the feats of Yahweh. But for the most part, Yahweh blinded us because of our sins and the sins of our fathers. Only now recently, has He opened our eyes and gave us understanding. Why? Because of the prophecy of ingathering in Deuteronomy Chapter 30 verse 1 to 3 as we read them earlier.
The prophet Zephaniah prophesied during the time of Jeremiah. Yahweh was about to cut off the line of King Solomon from sitting on the throne of Israel, just as he promised King Solomon after the Temple Dedication, and even today we walk in the condemnation of it:
1Ki 9:7 MKJV then I will cut off Israel from the face of the land which I have given them. And this house which I have made holy for My name I will cast out of My sight. And Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.
1Ki 9:8 MKJV As to this house which is exalted, everyone who passes by it shall be amazed and shall hiss. And they shall say, Why has Jehovah done this to this land and to this house?
1Ki 9:9 MKJV And they shall answer, Because they left Jehovah their God who brought out their fathers from the land of Egypt, and have taken hold on other gods and have worshiped them and served them. On account of this Jehovah has brought on them all this evil.
So, the instruction was given for those being exiled to Babylon to mourn for the feasts. Then Yahweh would gather those who mourn back to the land and to the city. And He did. About 10% of the Jews that were scattered in Babylon did return after the 70 years of captivity.
But Zephaniah’s prophecy also has a far fulfillment, just like most prophecies do. And through the principle of progressive revelation, Yahweh makes us aware of the things that was hidden because of our sins and the sins of our forefathers. This is what it means to walk in the grace of Yahweh. We start to keep the commandments, starting with His Shabbat. Then He starts to enable us to keep more and more of His commandments, through His Holy Spirit. This creates a cycle of growing understanding. By this, He can see that we love Him, because we keep His commandments, the easy ones and the hard ones, and then He will not only choose us to become citizens in His coming Kingdom, but to also rule and reign with Him forever more.
Let’s again look at the contingency that King Solomon gave us:
1Ki 8:46 MKJV If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin), and if You are angry with them, and have delivered them up before the enemy, and they have been led away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near,
1Ki 8:47-50 MKJV yet if they shall think within themselves in the land where they are carried captives, and repent, and pray to You in the land of their captors saying, We have sinned and have done perversely, we have done wickedly, and so return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and if they pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, to the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name, then hear their prayer and their cry in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, even all their sins which they have done against You, and give them pity before their captors, so that they may have pity on them.
1Ki 8:51 MKJV For they are Your people, and Your inheritance…
What then about the fact that there are no Levitical Priesthood? We are not under the Levitical any more, as Paul is trying to explain in the book of Galatians. We are under a new administration, according to the book of Hebrews. The administration of the Order of Melkizedek, Hebrews Chapter 8. In other words, the Law of Yahweh did not change, as Moses told us, “do not add or take away from what was given”, but the administration was changed. In Romans Paul explain that we give our lives as living sacrifices to Yeshua our Messiah and to the body of Christ.
What then about the fact that the glory of Yahweh is not in Jerusalem? Well, the dedication to the Temple was not limited to Yahweh’s glory being in Jerusalem. It was for Him, watching from His Heavenly dwelling.
1Ki 8:27 MKJV But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this house which I have built?
1Ki 8:28 MKJV Yet, O, Jehovah my God, You have turned toward the prayer of Your servant and to his request, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today;
1Ki 8:29 MKJV for Your eyes to be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, My name shall be there; to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.
1Ki 8:30 MKJV And You shall listen to the cry of Your servant, and of Your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place, and hear in Heaven Your dwelling-place, and when You hear, forgive!
After the death and resurrection, under the administration of the Order of Melkizedek, Yahweh’s Glory is with us through His Holy Spirit where ever we may go, as it is explained by Paul and in the book of Acts, throughout Pauls ministry.
I did not plan for this study to become a sermon, but people are quoting verses out of the prophets as an excuse not to keep the commandments of Yahweh regarding the feasts. We will look at Isaiah and Jeremiah. The prophet Isaiah tell us the following:
Isa 1:10 MKJV Hear the Word of Jehovah, rulers of Sodom; give ear to the Law of our God, people of Gomorrah.
Isa 1:11 MKJV To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says Jehovah; I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.
Isa 1:12 MKJV When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to trample My courts?
Isa 1:13 MKJV Bring no more vain sacrifice; incense is an abomination to Me; the new moon and sabbath, the going to meeting; I cannot endure evil and the assembly!
Isa 1:14 MKJV Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me; I am weary to bear them.
They did not keep Yahweh’s commandments regarding His New Moons, and feats and Shabbats. They kept it their own way and sacrificed to other gods, calling them Yahweh, just like they did at the golden calf.
Isa 1:15 MKJV And when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.
Isa 1:16 MKJV Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil;
Isa 1:17 MKJV learn to do good; seek judgment, reprove the oppressor. Judge the orphan, plead for the widow.
Isa 1:18 MKJV Come now, and let us reason together, says Jehovah; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.
Yahweh did not say that He is doing away with the commandments in Torah because of their perversion of His feats, His appointed times and places. In context to these verses He told them to fix their ways.
Isa 1:19 MKJV If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
Isa 1:20 MKJV but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.
In the 1st part of this chapter in Isaiah, he tells us a metaphor that Israel is a broken man. Isaiah chapter 1 was written before the Northern House of Israel was taken into captivity. Chapters 1 to 6 was written during the time of King Uzziah. And chapters 7-12 were during the time of King Ahaz. In Isaiah Chapter 28 we still read prophecy that Ephraim would be destroyed, the Northern Houses was still not exiled.
Isa 1:3 MKJV The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.
Isa 1:4 MKJV Woe, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons who corrupt! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they have gone away backward.
The people of Israel, all 12 tribes were at this point, worshipping other gods and kept the feats to their false gods and not to Yahweh.
Isa 1:5 MKJV Why should you be stricken any more? You will revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
Isa 1:6 MKJV From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it; only a wound and a stripe and a fresh blow; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with oil.
Isa 1:7 MKJV Your land is wasted, your cities burned with fire. Strangers devour your land right before your eyes, and it is wasted, as overthrown by strangers.
Isa 1:8 MKJV And the daughter of Zion is left a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city.
Isa 1:9 MKJV Except Jehovah of Hosts had left us a very small remnant, we would be as Sodom; we would be like Gomorrah.
This is speaking of the whole House of Israel, all 12 tribes being a sick man. This sick man died and was crucified with Yeshua on the cross. In Colossians Chapter 2 we read the following:
Col 2:10-12 MKJV And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in whom also you were raised through the faith of the working of God, raising Him from the dead.
Col 2:13-14 MKJV And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.
We are that remnant mentioned in Isaiah 1:9 “Except Jehovah of Hosts had left us a very small remnant”. We are the one new man that Paul speak of in Ephesians Chapter 2:14-15: “For He is our peace, He making us both one, and He has broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity (the Law of commandments contained in ordinances) so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, making peace between them.“ We are that generation of the latter days spoken of in the book of Deuteronomy that will return to the Torah of Yahweh, those who mourn for the feats because we can not keep them in Jerusalem as Zephaniah 3:18 states.
Let’s have a look at Jeremiah:
Jer 6:16 MKJV So says Jehovah, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it.
Jer 7:21 MKJV So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: Put your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh.
Jer 7:22 MKJV For I did not speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.
Jer 7:23 MKJV But I commanded them this thing, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you.
Jer 7:24 MKJV But they did not listen, nor bow their ear, but walked in their own plans, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.
Through out the book of Jeremiah, he tells those of Israel who were still left in the land, why Yahweh was upset with them and why the covenant was broken. Verse 23 tell us that the commandments were not because of the sacrifices. He told them that they should do what He says, then He would be their God and they would His people. Everything regarding the Levitical Priesthood and sacrifices were a shadow onto Messiah, a schoolmaster. Except for a remnant, Yahweh’s people did not recognize the Messiah when He came. We are that remnant, the descendants of those who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah, nearly 2000 years ago.
Our obedience to the feats and the Pilgrimage 3 times a year has nothing to do with the House of Judah and their corruption, still walking in the old man of Isaiah, who died. Our relationship is with Yeshua our King. The more commandments we keep, the more He will enable us to keep. And those of us who can not go there, specially in these days that the Jews have closed the boarders to Jerusalem, but turn towards the land of our fathers, to the city of Jerusalem and mourn for the feasts, will be gathered in when the time comes as it is mentioned in Zephaniah Chapter 3. We will be the people of Yahweh and He will be our God. We keep the commandments the best we can, the best that He enable us to do.
This is our understanding of the Kingdom of Yahweh. It is our wisdom regarding the Kingdom of Yahweh. It is our love and faith regarding the promises made to Abraham, in whom we are those of the promise, as Paul says in Galatians 3:29 “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”
Lead out
1Co 10:6 MKJV And these things were our examples, that we should not be lusters after evil, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:11-13 MKJV And all these things happened to them as examples; and it is written for our warning on whom the ends of the world have come. So let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has taken you but what is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the temptation also will make a way to escape, so that you may be able to bear it.
Everything written to the people of the 1st and 2nd generation are our examples for the final generation. This time we will not fail the tests of the wilderness.
King Josiah was our example of a Righteous King that walk in all the commandments of Yahweh, according to the Book of the Law that was found. He did this, knowing that all Israel would be destroyed and go into exile, but he did it for the remnant on whom Yahweh would have mercy.
Just like in his days, we have a coming tribulation, and yet the 1st thing that Josiah did was renew the covenant of Yahweh and restore the feasts back to were Yahweh said. Yahweh, through the prophet Zephaniah, reminded the people that those who are scattered and Exiled, can turn to Jerusalem and mourn for the feasts and the commandments that they can no keep regarding the feasts, and they will be forgiven and gathered in during the time of the harvest.
Next week we will start with our next King in our story of Jeremiah and the last Kings of Israel.
God Bless, Shalom
