Women In Scriptures

The last few days I’ve been listening to some very interesting audios on the Jewish understanding of Moshiach, and yet again, I come away with the thought, that if Moshiach is from the Tribe of Joseph and the Tribe of Judah, (Both would be from two different Tribes), and knowing that the Son of Joseph (Ephraim lineage) and the Son of Judah (David’s lineage), one has to die and one reigns in the Messianic era. We cannot jump on the bandwagon of Jesus being the son of Joseph and will return from the son of David. This is not possible.  The 2 Tribes are two different and they cannot be from the same. There are Jewish views that these 2 men are on scene at the same time. Son of Joseph gets killed and Son of David is the one who is alive… This brings up a ton of questions in my head!  COULD this be what the 2 Witnesses are? I do not have an answer on that, but if I ever find it I will surely post it.

Witnesses in Judaism according to the Tanak is two people who see something and can report it. We use this for the sighting of the new moon, and its used in courts of law as a witness to a crime or a witness to innocents.  However when i look up the same word “witness” in the NT, strangely it goes to being something totally different.  The NT shows the “Witness” as You are witness to this. Well, that is not a correct view of Judaism. If “You” are the witness, where is the other witness? We need two!  No one witnessed anything with Jesus’s resurrection and you can’t use angels sitting on a rock as the witness.  Each angle has only one job, they are not like us. We have tons of jobs, many things to be busy with. They function under one item, so the idea that 2 are witnesses cannot work on this.

In the book of Exodus, millions of people “Witnessed” G-d in the “Thunder and Lightning”.

This is the main basis of Judaism.

There is a huge difference with Judaism and other religions.

They have one person saying “God told me xyz”…

But there was no second witness to this.

But going back to my original statement, sorry for the “rabbit trails”!  The Son’s of Joseph and the Sons of Judah who are Moshaich would have to be married, they would have had wives.  I found a wonderful source for reading about the Women of the bible, more specifically I was reading on Tamara and how she had to get Judah to preform the Levitical right so that she could conceive and have a son.  I find it interesting that we all keep track of the guys, but without the women, they cannot full fill what scriptures speaks of.

Here are some neat websites for you:

I noticed that the JWA site has Sign Up for JWA eNews at the bottom of the page, everything from Monthly eLetter, This Week in History, Book Club and Educators Updates that you may be interested in.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/tamar-bible

Sichos In English has many Books online and audios

Audios on Moshiach:  http://www.sie.org/library/article_cdo/aid/140629/jewish/Moshiach.htm

Blue Letter Bibles search engine on “Witness”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=Witness&t=NASB#s=s_primary_0_2

 

Tribe of Joseph and the Tribe of Judah (King David)

There is some confusion out there about the different tribes. I’d like to see if I can clear this up for some people. I use to be one of those confused people and it took quite a while to get this straightened out in my own head….

There are 12 Tribes – all the sons of Jacob. (Jacob is later given the name Israel).

Jacob’s twelve sons, named in Genesis, were:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. His only daughter is Dinah

The twelve sons became the progenitors of the “Tribes of Israel” (Notice they are not called the Tribes of Jacob).

Joseph (Yosef) and Benjamin were from Jacobs favorite wife.  Joseph was hated by his brothers and sold by them to their cousins who were from Ishmael (Abraham’s other son); the caravan was heading down to Egypt with spices.

King David is from the Tribe of Judah. (Yehuda), one of his sons was Solomon. King Solomon had many wives and concubines. In 1Kings chapter 11 vs 3 about Solomon:  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.  A king is not allowed that many wives, they are allowed more then 1.  Because when King David was sick they brought in a young women to warm him up (not for sex) and he asked if he had to divorce one of his wives in order to do this since he had the maximum amount of wives.  See 1Kings chapter 1 below.

Here is where the confusion maybe coming from:For some Christians believe that Jesus was from the both the Tribe of David (There is no Tribe of David, its the Tribe of Judah) and the Tribe of Joseph. (Hence their answer of why he has to come back in the 2nd coming. Which is still an error cause he would still be from one father). Where Mary his mother was impregnated by a (non)-human being (Which they call the Holy Spirit) and a man named Joseph took her in and basically adopted young Jesus.   This is not the Joseph of the Tribe of Joseph, but a man named Joseph. You can’t be from 2 different tribes its physically impossible (Not to be mean, but  a cat is the only thing I can think of  which can have multiple males impregnate a female and she’s carrying multiple lineages).  The Christian bible tries to show two lineages of Jesus, one from his mother Mary and one from his adopted father Joseph.  Well first the lineage of a mother is never counted due to the fact that any man’s seed can get her pregnant and Joseph was not his biological father, so his lineage is not valid.  For more reading please see this hyperlink: http://outreachjudaism.org/marys-genealogy/  If the New Testament Joseph was his biological father, then which son did he come from? Manasseh or Ephraim? This makes a huge difference.

According to scriptures, Jacob on his death bed included Joseph’s 2 sons in the tribes.  The Tribe of Joseph now come from his children Manasseh and Ephraim;  now note that the name Manasseh comes first that is the oldest son yet when Jacob blesses these sons, he puts the younger ahead of the older. Joseph tries to correct his father Jacob, but Jacob tells him why he is putting Ephraim before Manasseh.  When Jacob did this we have to say, are there now a new number of Tribes?  And is the Tribe of Levi broken out to be two separate of Arron (Kohens) and Levites? This would no longer be the 12 tribes!  What took place is the following:

The tribes of Levi are including both Kohen’s which are the priests and Levites.

The tribe of Simeon has been lost and no longer exists, this enables the Tribe count to go back to 12.

The tribe of Joseph is now including Ephraim and Manasseh

See the map below for the names of the Tribes and where each was located. This is the lands they were given during the time of Moses.  Moses even allowed them to settle outside of the land of Canaan as per their request, only after they agreed to help their brothers fight. Note that the Tribe of Joseph is shown as Ephraim and Manasseh, not as Joseph.

I hope this helps and I’m not adding more confusion.

For more information on the above some items were copied from the following:

 

Family of Joseph:

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246630/jewish/Jacob-and-His-Family-Go-To-Egypt.htm

Tribe of Judah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Judah

Tribe of Benjamin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Benjamin

Jacob: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob

Solomon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon

1Kings chapter 11:  http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09a11.htm

Tribe of Simeon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Simeon

1 Kings Chapter 1: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09a01.htm

 

Jewish “Leap Month” – Adar 2 Has Begun

The Hebrew calendar has a “Leap Month”, this is due to the fact that it is based on both the Solar (sun) and Lunar (moon) and how they go across the sky.

The added month is called “Adar 2”. Since Adar 1 was so early in the seasons we wait for Adar 2 so that “Spring” is at the proper time for celebrating Passover. This is stated in scriptures to Moses from Hashem.

In Exodus 12:

This month shall be to you the head of the months;

to you it shall be the first of the months of the year.

This is the “Religious calendar”, where Rosh Hashanna is the “Civil Calendar”

Rosh means “Head”

We are further instructed:

Speak to the entire community of Israel, saying,

“On the tenth of this month,

let each one take a lamb for each parental home,

a lamb for each household.

But if the household is too small for a lamb,

then he and his neighbor who is nearest to his house shall take [one] according to the number of people,

each one according to one’s ability to eat,

shall you be counted for the lamb.

You shall have a perfect male lamb in its [first] year;

you may take it either from the sheep or from the goats.

And you shall keep it for inspection until the fourteenth day of this month,

and the entire congregation of the community of Israel shall slaughter it in the afternoon

And they shall take [some] of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel,

on the houses in which they will eat it.

And on this night,

they shall eat the flesh,

roasted over the fire,

and unleavened cakes;

with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

You shall not eat it rare or boiled in water,

except roasted over the fire its head with its legs and with its innards.

And you shall not leave over any of it until morning,

and whatever is left over of it until morning, you shall burn in fire

And this is how you shall eat it: your loins girded,

your shoes on your feet,

and your staff in your hand;

and you shall eat it in haste it is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord.

I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night,

and I will smite every firstborn in the land of Egypt,

both man and beast,

and upon all the gods of Egypt will I wreak judgments I, the Lord.

My Notes:

*************CORRECTION***************  Passover is in Nissan… next Month. Adar 2 gives us an additional month to get ready for Passover. I’m sorry if I caused any confusion!!!!

 

We have to take notice of the line I posted.  You may take it either from sheep or goats.  So a lamb, 1 year old is not the only choice. Also, the reason for using a lamb was to prove to the Egyptians that “Their Lamb God” was not able to defeat the G-d of the Jewish.  This is really an interesting concept, even in today’s world.  I can’t even imagine being instructed to do this out in the open, and for all of the Egyptian’s to see a lamb, that they regard as holy, being burned head to tail on a fire pit of some form.  It must have taken a lot of courage to do this out where everyone would see it.  Nor can I imagine how upset the Egyptians were.  We have to remember in Genesis, that due to the famine Joseph,  who was 2nd in command in Egypt, was able to get his family (70 people) into Egypt safely and to put them all in Goshen. If your not familiar with the story, I strong ask you revisit it to better understand the story of the Exodus.  Goshen is where the Egyptians kept all their flocks of sheep. The Egyptians were not allowed near their sheep (lamb) God so Joseph had his brothers be the lambs Sheppard. Isn’t G-d just amazing! How all these things play out.  Even at the end when they are crossing the See of Reeds, Moses himself is the one who goes to the body of water where Joseph’s body and tomb/casket was tossed to the bottom of the sea.  Moses called out to Joseph for the waters to give up the grave it made for him, to rise so that Moses could take Joseph out of Egypt and bring him to the promised land and be buried properly there.

Talk about Full Circle!

 

For the Siting information: http://whenisthenewmoon.com/

For the scriptures:  http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9873

Story and History on Joseph & family:  http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246630/jewish/Jacob-and-His-Family-Go-To-Egypt.htm

 

 

Yosef son of Jacob

In this week’s reading, the sons of Yaakov sell their brother Yosef into slavery. First, they take him and throw him into a pit, intending to kill him. But seeing a caravan approaching, Yehudah suggests that they sell him instead, keeping the money while sending him down to Egypt.

Rashi points to two interesting details found in the Medrash. First of all, the Torah describes the pit as “empty, there was no water in it.” [37:24] Rav Tanchum asks, “it says the pit is empty. Don’t I know that it doesn’t have water in it? Rather, what the Torah is saying is that it didn’t have water in it, but it had snakes and scorpions in it!” [Talmud Shabbos 22a]

Then, the approaching caravan is described as carrying various fragrant spices. [37:25] Rashi explains that the Torah is telling us this in order to point out the merits of a right eous person like Yosef. Ordinarily, these caravans would be carrying petroleum products with bad smells. But for Yosef’s sake, this particular caravan carried aromatic cargo.

I remember Rav Asher Z. Rubenstein zt”l asking, what difference did the smell make? Why would Yosef care, in the middle of his brothers’ betrayal, being separated from his family and sold into slavery, about the odor of the camels’ burdens?

The Torah is telling us that everything is according to plan, even when we can’t see it. Dumped into a pit with snakes and scorpions, why wasn’t Yosef bitten? Because he wasn’t supposed to be. Rather, he was supposed to go to Egypt, and rise from slavery to be second to Pharaoh.

If so, why wasn’t the pit empty, instead? Yosef was shown that even at that moment, he was surrounded by miracles. An empty pit would not have shown him that G-d was still watching over him, as the dangerous creatures did. And in that context, he might indeed have noticed the fragrant smell of spices. Whatever it was that he was supposed to go through, he wasn’t supposed to have to endure a bad smell — and so he didn’t have to. These small signs carried a powerful message.

NOTES:

Copied from newsletter:

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Joseph HaTzeddek (The Righteous)

Poor Joseph.. He’s been thrown in holes, left to die, Put into a caravan (of spices) headed to Egypt. Sold to slavery… Accused by the Slave owners wife for trying to force himself on her sexually.!! Looses his Coat of Colors at that house, Tossed into jail… Baker and Wine server ask for their dreams to be interpreted . Interprets 100%. Gets forgotten by both of them. (One loses his life) the other promoted. Finally king has a dream, needs someone to interpret his dream… Interprets properly… Is released… Becomes the 2nd in command… Viceroy of Egypt… Finally sees his father after many years. When they have to come to Egypt to save the family (70) head to Egypt to beat the famine. Finally sees his father…. His father dies… He himself dies at a young age… Asks his brothers (The other tribes of Israel) to bring him up and out of Egypt when they finally get out of there… MOSES is the one who finds his crypt tossed in the waters of the Nile, brings it up and carries it out of the area… and Joseph gets to come out of the Exodus all be it his bones! And now these people burn his tomb! What’s wrong with people!

This is in the news today:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/palestinian-protesters-set-fire-to-a-jewish-holy-shrine-in-west-bank/ar-AAfvLxo?li=AAa0dzB&ocid=mailsignout

Photo of Jerusalem Crying copied from https://www.facebook.com/VirtualJerusalem?fref=photo

Photo of fire is from Joseph’s Tomb