This Week's Parasha is called Ha'azinu, which means, "Give Ears." The LORD is Commanding us to Give Ears to His Song, which is now referred to as, "The Song of Moses."
Moses is given credit for this song, because it was by
his hand that it was written, but like everything else in Torah, this was
merely dictation.
This
document that we now refer to as "The Song of Moses," was in
fact, YHVH's Prophesy of Israel's inevitable future failure. Within
the context of the song, He tells us that we will become "Fat" with
Self-indulgence, and Prideful, declaring that "We have made all this
so." Does this sound Familiar in our day...? Things are so
good that we turn our backs on HaShem and His Instruction - His Word?
This is the Song that God wrote, by the hand of Moshe.
It is an everlasting memorial to His People Israel. It was
Commanded that it be sung from Generation to Generation, so that we would know
that He, YHVH, foreknew our Rebellion, and that when those days were upon
us, we would know why we are, where we are. Here we are today, in the
midst of this prophesy, and yet we still sing this song, or at least a version
of it.
As I began this study in last week’s parasha, I began to
ponder the results of this Command.
What I discovered as interesting, was that we have kept
a version of this song, and we do sing it from time to time, but our version
only focuses on the “Good Things” - The Blessings.
All the while, this song was meant to be a warning, so that
we would watch ourselves, so that we would not drift from His Word. I
guess the irony is that we not only drifted from His Word, but from the Spirit
of it as well. I’m talking about us, and not just the Rabbis and Parishioners
of Pharisaic Theology.
Again, we focus on the Blessings, but what about the Curses
which have placed us HERE, and not in the Promises that Hashem has
planned for us?
Therefore, the next time we sing "The Song of
Moses," let us not forget to think about all these other harsh words that
HE gave to us that day that it was first inscribed. After
all, YHVH did not give us this Song to bless us, but to Warn us of
what would come, if we turned away from Him. The blessing is the
knowledge, so that we would not depart from His Word.
Within the context of this week’s parasha one of
our Midrashim, Scott, noticed an anomaly which he pointed out.
Our Midrash Team has pondered this discovery since last week.
We have poured over the Scriptures, looking for more clues to understand
this Mystery.
What we have found is profound.
To add to this, I was astonished to see that
the Haftarah portion read on Yom Kippurim is
completely focused upon this very issue, as is today's Haftarah portion .
(Isaiah 58 and 2 Samuel 22)
Let's have a look:
In D’varim (Deuteronomy 32) we read in verse 13:
He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he did
eat the fruitage of the field; and He made him to suck honey out of
the crag, and oil out of the flinty rock;
Now, this is the JPS version, but we looked at many
other versions as well. The anomaly that Scott had pointed out was that
the word “Ba-mot-e” is not translated within the interlinear. It is spelt
in Hebrew “Bet
– Mem – Vav – Tav – Yud.”
As we looked at this, we discovered immediately that this
word was rooted in the Hebrew word for “Death,” – “Mot,” but the translation
has nothing about “Death” within it. This caused us to ponder the reason.
Again:
He made him ride on the "high places" of the earth,
and he did eat the fruitage of the field; and He made him to suck
honey out of the crag, and oil out of the flinty rock;
No - Nothing about Death in it.... Why is this?
We noticed when looking closer at the interlinear, that
although the word “Ba-mot-e” was written, right next to it in parenthesis, was
another word similar to it, the word “Bem-te.” Now these words are so
close in sound, but there is one thing missing… The Vav.
By playing by the rules, The Scribes could not change this,
even if it didn't make sense grammatically, conceptually, or theologically.
Therefore, right beside the word written with the vav, they placed
within parenthesis this "suggestion," of what The Writer, probably
meant.
Perhaps, the ink dropped perfectly in line to form
a vav, even though it made no sense. Who knows the reason, but
nonetheless, the translators didn't know what to do with it, and so they, (In
Parenthesis) added their opinion.
As we looked closer, we realized that without the vav,
this changed the concept completely from “In my Death,” to the word: “Heights,”
or "High Places," and in fact THIS is what all the translations go
by. This begged the question, why would they change it, or propose
another probability of intent?
We proceeded to do our Homework. We looked at all the
cases that this word applied, and in 3 cases the same anomaly took place.
The Script contained the vav, but the "suggested"
non-vav version, was added in parenthesis, right next to it.
We also found two more places that it occurred, but without
the attempted "correction." (2 Samuel 22:34 and Habakkuk 3:19)
Only the "Vav" version was there, but still translated as
"Heights" or "High Places."
What is the common denominator? They are ALL Prophesies
of The Messiah... Every One.
It was evident that the word in The Original Torah Script,
definitely contained the Vav, as every version of Torah that we looked at
had the vav within the word. Then why would they offer another
probable word, that changed the intent?
Of course this provokes the investigation to understand the
motive behind this.
Now, traditionally, the Rabbinical response to anything that
we deem as “Messianic Prophesy,” is explained away by the fact that “The
Person,” referred to in the “Metaphoric” tense is "Israel,” (The
Nation). The Irony of this situation is that this particular Prophesy is
referring to “Israel” or more specifically “Jacob," as referenced in verse
9:
"For the portion of the LORD is His people, Jacob the lot of
His inheritance."
Therefore, by keeping the word “Ba-mot-e” or “In my Death,”
in context, could be interpreted as, “He (HaShem) will have him (Jacob) ride
above Death.” Or “No matter what the future holds, Israel will not be
destroyed.” This is a very simple explanation to the context, regardless
of the fact that Messianics would jump upon this verse to apply
"The Death and Resurrection" aspect of Messiah.
Therefore this emboldens the inquiry, "Then why the
extra step in attempting to alter the meaning?"
For “Some Reason,” another tactic is implemented. The
translators intentionally change the word, by removing the vav.
In Paleo Hebrew thought, the vav depicts
a "Nail," therefore, this is to say, “To Remove the Nail,” from the
equation. In doing so it turns from “In my Death,” to the word:
“Heights.”
It is apparent that this could be assumed, because the
previous word, before Ba-mot'e, was "Al," or "Over,"
implying a concept of elevation.
Forgive me for implying the conspiracy, but let's look at
this in perspective.
You see, in Paleo Hebrew thought, The word
“Ba-Mot-e” means, “The House of Water is nailed to the Covenant – The work of
My Hand.” The idiom reference, "The House of Water,” is
a Midrashic concept referring to “This World,” or as we call it in
Bet Midrash, "The Mem."
As many of you know, Hebrew is an Alpha Numeric language,
which means the letters can also be numbers. This infers that Words can
also be Equations. This is to say that each picto-character adds up
to form the concept of the word itself.
Therefore when we are thinking in Paleo or
“Ancient” Hebrew and add up the letters, we should read this concept as “The
Power of This World is Nailed to the Covenant, the work of My Hand, is in My
Death.”
The thing is, if this is so, remember who is Speaking...
It's not Moshe. If YHVH is speaking, then how could this
be possible? He cannot die! He is God! Therefore, we can only
assume the vav is removed in order to conceptually equate the
statement Theologically. How could YHVH see death? The Original
"Writer" HAD to be mistaken!!!
It was almost as if YHVH knew that they would have
issue with this, and used their efforts to correct "This Mistake," as
a part of the Revelation. (Ironic Humor)
By removing the "Vav," in concept, they have
ironically made this Prophetic Writing an even greater depiction of The Death
and Resurrection of Messiah. It was the Vav (The Nail), that
held Yeshua HaMashiach to The Tav (The Cross).
By removing the Nail, He was “Resurrected,” and lifted to Great Heights
("Bemte"), causing Him to be set on High.
This symbolically fulfills what the Prophesy is actually saying.
This completes the equation, and makes the Script
Theologically correct in the first place.
The attempt to "correct" the Script, amplified the
Testimony of the Message.
Since this was another example of God using “Jacob/Israel” to
metaphorically represent His Messiah, this was accepted as a Messianic Prophesy
of NOT ONLY the Fall of Israel, but the Redemptive Work of Messiah restoring
Israel – The Nation. It is man’s arrogance to bless ourselves with the
idea that “We” (The Nation of Israel) are the Messiah. Messiah was
brought forth through us, but all glory be to Mashiach Yeshua, By His
Death, we are lifted from “The Mem,” (This World) to The High Place to be
exalted with Him.
Let me conclude with this. As I stated earlier, our
Rabbis attempt to explain away any Messianic Prophesy, by applying that the
"Persona" within the metaphoric tense is reference to
"Israel," the Nation. I rebut this simplistic analogy with this:
Messiah is King - "The Anointed King," where we get
the term "Mashiach" from. Therefore, as King of Israel, He
(Messiah) is Jacob, and is Israel. He is the fullness of that Perfect
Restored Israel that HaShem has foreseen as Emet (The Truth)
all along. Messiah is the Metaphoric Israel of Prophetic Writing.
Messiah is LORD. Blessed Be He, The King of Israel.
