“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.”Matthew 24:37 NASB

God testified in the Torah passage נֹחַ Noach (Genesis 6:9-11:32) that Noah was “righteous in his generation,” and God called Noach to save his family and a remnant of mankind from the Flood. 

Yeshua (Jesus) had a similar mission 4,000-plus years later. How are Noach and Yeshua similar? Here are five main similarities. 

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1. Walking with God

We see a few examples of walking with God in Torah, including, Enoch. We read in the last Torah portion that God walked with Enoch and beause of that close relationship, God took Enoch away from his people. We can infer that by Enoch’s time, there were very few people who had an intimate relationship with God. Noach, just as his great-grandfather, was, in a different way, taken away from his people.

2. Intercession for others

Unlike Noach, Job and Daniel, Yeshua’s intercession was successful not just for Himself or His immediate circle of influence but for all of mankind who would accept Him.

“And a word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, if a land sins against me so that transgression occurs, I will also stretch out my hand against it and will shatter its support of bread, and I will send out famine upon it and will take away human and cattle from it. Even if these three men were in its midst, Noe and Daniel and Iob, they shall be saved by their righteousness, says the Lord.” (Ezekiel 14:12–14 NETS)

Daniel is famous for his prayers to HaShem for his intercession on behalf of his people. He also prayed for their repentance. He considered others valuable and worthy of prayer. Job was known for the same thing. He interceded for his children and also his friends. Noach physically interceded on behalf of his family as well as all the animals God made. All three of them cared more about others than themselves.

Ezekiel 14 shows us what kind of generation Noach lived in. They were evil on the inside and out. History repeats itself. God is the one who cleaned up the mess, not Noach. We also see that even as the righteousness of Noach, Job and Daniel was so great, but they were able to save some of those for whom they interceded but not all of them. Job’s intercessions saved his friends but not his children, Noach saved his immediate family and the animals but he was not able to save his siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews, etc.

“Even if I bring harmful animals against the land, I shall also take vengeance on it, and it shall be as an annihilation, and there shall not be one who passes through from before the animals, even if these three men were in its midst, I live, says the Lord, if sons or daughters shall be saved! But they alone would be saved, while the land would be for annihilation. Or again, if I bring a sword upon that land and say, “Let a sword pass through the land” and I will take away human and cattle from it and these three men be in its midst, I live, says the Lord, they shall rescue neither sons nor daughters. They alone shall be saved. Or again, if I send out death upon that land and I pour out my wrath upon it with blood so as utterly to destroy human and cattle from it and Noe and Daniel and Iob shall be in its midst, I live, says the Lord, if sons or daughters should be left behind! They shall rescue their souls by their righteousness.” (Ezekiel 14:15–20 NETS)

Why Job,

We have discussed over the years that the prophets and some of the New Testament authors explain that the Fall Feasts (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles/Eighth Day) are symbolic of future events.  Obviously we recognize how the Spring Feasts (Passover, First Fruits, Shavuot) and most of the Fall Feasts are well documented with historical and spiritual events both in the TaNaK and New Testament.

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It is clear that much of the symbolism for these Appointed Times of the LORD found in our Bibles use of objects or agriculture as a basis for instruction.  Therefore, when we are looking at passages or concepts that use tools (objects, agriculture or other easy to grasp ideas) it is helpful to look for these same tools used elsewhere in a similar fashion to better understand purpose and gain insight to the original instruction.  Trumpets are a great well used tool to gain insight into the Feast of Trumpets.

The first instruction for Trumpets given without explanation:

 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.  ‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.’ “Lev. 23:23-25

Later, the Torah gives more details for the trumpets and use (Num. 10:1-10).

Let’s read some examples of how trumpets are re-used in other passages.  Trumpets are mostly used for war and anointing of kings:

* (Joshua 6 the fall of Jericho.* Judges 6-7 on Gideon’s war.* 2Samuel 15 and 1Kings 1 on anointing kings, and multiple instances of calling up the armies, directing armies during battles and warnings of invasions. 

Therefore with these examples we can extrapolate that Yehovah’s appointed time of Feast of Trumpets is going to center around these similar events, i.e. Invading Armies, Directing Battles, Calling the Armies, and Anointing a King.

Joel 2:1-17 gives a good example of the trumpet symbol used in many of the most common fashion, but used on behalf of Yehovah instead of men.

This passage is extremely useful in that Joel 2:10 appears connected to other passages that help explain the context of the trumpets and their use.  Joel shows that the Sun, Moon and stars failing is a direct result from the army and their destructive power. 

Matt. 24:4-51: Messiah warns about the Day of the LORD

Joel’s explanation allows us further insight to other connected passages about the Sun, Moon and stars in Matt. 24:29 and Rev. 6:12.

Most notable about Matt. 24:29 is the timing and context when compared to Joel 2:10. We see here that in Matt 24:29, the Sun, Moon and stars darkening occurs following the tribulation, but before the coming of Messiah and the resurrection trumpet sounding. Since Joel tells us the army causes the Sun, Moon and stars to fail, then we can conclude that the LORD’s army attacks and destroys Jerusalem before the resurrection trumpet sounds. This means that the tribulation is an event (or events) that lead up to a trumpet sounding.

Revelation 6 gives further insight to these events:

I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair,

Is it OK to mix the practices of other religions with the worship of God? How far must we go in following the instructions of leaders and judges? These are the sobering lessons on the standards of Heaven and earthly authorities raised in the Torah passage שֹׁפְטִים Shoftim (“judges,” Deut. 16:18–21:9).

Deuteronomy 16: Judges must judge justly

Judges 9: Abimelech the bad judge

What are his credentials for judgeship? In this case, is it a righteous judgment in the past? Has he made good judgments or good corrections or good righteous decisions in the past, being fair to people? No, his claim to fame was, “I am your own flesh and bone.” The people then agreed with him.

So, a judge must not only only be just but the people themselves was actually enforce the just requirement. If they fail to do so, they get what they deserve.

In the parable of the trees by Yotam (Jotham) in this passage underscores that a “good” tree provides “good” fruit — right living, i.e., righteousness. Messiah Yeshua referenced this parable multiple times to those who knew the words of God (Matt. 3:10; 7:17–19; 12:33; Luke 3:9; 6:43).

A judge is only “good” if he pursues righteous justice. Drawing from Deut. 16:19, Yeshua appealed to Israel’s judges to come to a just judgment about Him.

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”John 7:24 NASB

Deut. 16:19; 1Kings 3: Judges must be impartial

Judges should also must not be partial, to “recognize” people who come before them (Deut. 16:19). We call that a conflict of interest, and even in secular circles today the appearance of that is considered a corruption of the system.

King Solomon’s wise “splitting the baby” decision came across as dispassionate and even callous, but it was a deep pursuit of justice to turn back the injustice of the kidnapping mom.

Deuteronomy 16:20–22: Don’t mix the domain of Heaven and the pagan

We don’t get to mix the Do-Not-Dos and the Yes-Dos together — aka syncretism. Don’t mix the worship of other gods in your practice or your techniques of how you worship your God. He doesn’t like the mixture.

For example, mixing Sunday with Shabbat or mixing Easter, Christmas or Halloween with with God’s other appointed times gives you a perverted system. Some will say, “I worship my God like this over here,” even though He said to worship me like that over there. That’s trying to move worship from His Do-Not-Do column to His Yes-Do column.

Deuteronomy 19: Murder

Important in this discussion is the role of the sanctuary cities to act like modern-day “country club” prisons for cases where malice can’t be proved conclusively (“beyond a reasonable doubt” in U.S. judicial parlance) by at least two thoroughly interrogated witnesses. Tradition has it that capital punishment was rarely carried out in ancient Israel, for that reason.

And not to be overlooked is the importance of the independent accounts of Yeshua’s deeds and teachings recorded in the four Gospels.

Accounts of the corruption of witnesses in judicial system when it came to capital cases were Naboth (1Kings 21) and the trials of Yeshua (Matthew 26) and Stephen.

Deuteronomy 17:11,

“‘I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.‘You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”Deuteronomy 5:6–10 NASB

Whether we’re secular or religious, we all worship something. What does it mean to worship or not worship? The Torah reading עקב Ekev or Eikev (“consequence,” “because,” Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) focuses on an elaboration of the First and Second of the Ten Commandments.

When an officer of an occupying force in ancient Israel found healing for a debilitating skin disease from a lowly prophet who used a dirty brook in the subjugated nation, that mighty warrior realized the God of Israel was superior and bowed in submission. Naaman recognized and the prophet Elijah recognized that kneeling or prostrating yourself in front of an object is not the complete definition of what worship actually means. It’s actually an acknowledgment of what the thing is. As recounted in the passage Ekev, God wanted to find out, “would you worship Me”? What is it that you’re doing when you kneel or prostrate yourself in front of something or someone?

The lessons in Ekev also teach us that Heaven’s blessings come with a condition: Listen to God; observe and follow.

Somebody will ask, “What about salvation? Salvation doesn’t come from works!” We’re not discussing salvation. We’re discussing our God.

The lesson in Ekev is more about building the relationship with Heaven than forming it.

“’Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’”Matthew 5:17–19 NASB

“Jesus is not speaking against observing all the requirements of the Law, but against hypocritical, Pharisaical legalism. Such legalism was not the keeping of all the details of the Law but the hollow sham of keeping laws externally, to gain merit before God, while breaking them inwardly. It was following the letter of the law while ignoring its spirit. Jesus repudiates the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Law and their way of righteousness by works. He preaches a righteousness that comes only through faith in him and his work.”NIV Study Bible, 10th edition (1995), “Matt. 5:18–20”

If there’s one sermon you’ll want to make sure you stay awake through it’s the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) by Yeshua (Jesus). It gets to the heart of the matter about why humanity has strayed from its ultimate potential: a heart that is prone to straying. But part of the long-awaited mission of the Messiah is to be Heaven’s ultimate Anointed messenger, teacher, redeemer of humanity.

Long before Yeshua’s arrival on Earth in the 1st century, another special anointed one led Heaven’s ambassadors to humanity out of slavery and toward freedom, foreshadowing a greater Prophet Who would take humanity the distance to the Kingdom of God. In the Torah reading וָאֶתְחַנַּן Va’et’chanan (“and I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11), we see the beginning of Moshe’s (Moses’) explanation of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5), a lesson that stretches almost to the end of the book.

““For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”Matthew 6:14–15 NASB

God forgives us for our screwups when we turn back from them (i.e., repent). What must we then do? Forgive others. That includes those in the Body of Messiah who we think have “lied” to us about the Sabbath’s being changed, Day of Atonement’s being abolished, New Moon’s being nailed to the cross or the Torah’s being abrogated. Those who taught us these things may have been misled themselves or had misunderstood or misinterpreted teachings. Our job is to forgive.

That’s a key lesson Moshe (Moses) had for the second generation of Israel, who had to grow up outside the Promised Land because of the failings of the first generation in trusting every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The Torah reading דברים Devarim (“words,” Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22) is the beginning of Moshe’s address near the end of his life, spanning most all the book.

The opening chapters recount a selection of key events in the history of Israel’s journey from Mount Sinai to the Land and back again nearly four decades later. The soundtrack for this should be a dirge rather than a rousing patriotic score, because Moshe recounted the series of failings that demonstrated why Israel didn’t respond to God’s grace via bread from Heaven and water from the Rock with trust in the Holy One’s promises.

“‘The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ “But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God, who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go.’”Deuteronomy 1:30–33 NASB

Moshe recounted the widely communicated victories over Sihon of Amor and Og of Bashan and judgment on all those inhabitants while leaving the descendants of Eysav (Esau) and Lot alone in Seir and Moab, respectively, even though their paganism and inhospitality were as egregious as those of the surrounding nations. The difference was the promises made to Eysav and Lot about their legacy, as will be revealed in the next Torah reading, Va’etchanan:

“’The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt’.”Deuteronomy 7:7–8 NASB

Why wasn’t I born tall? Athletic? In a prosperous country? To wealthy parents? In a loving, stable home? There are so many ways popular culture, our peers and we ourselves can tell us that we are less than valuable. We might glean from a cursory pass through the Torah readings מטות Matot (“tribes”) and מסעי Massei/Mase’y (“journeys of”), covering Numbers 30–36, a few more points of discrimination against us: born a woman, born in the wrong family.

Yet we will discover after lifting the hood on the full message from Heaven, rather than pulling soundbites convenient to our bias, that where we start out in life and where we find ourselves doesn’t have to define what truly matters: “the content of our character,” to quote Martin Luther King Jr.

This reading has some accounts that sound horrifyingly archaic in the decades since women’s suffrage. There are the accounts of the annulment of a maiden’s or wife’s vows by a father or husband who doesn’t agree with the commitments (Numbers 30), forced adoption of girls of Midian not involved in the “honey trap” set by Bilam (Balaam) of Peor (Numbers 31) and the dilemma of tribal inheritance by the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 36). A woman or girl in this situation could ask, why must I lose my freedom to do what I want because of my gender?

The answer lies in a long-running metaphor in the Bible that teaches one to look for what the final “shape” of a person’s character is, rather than the molding of the moment. We may be powerless over the moment, but we’re not powerless over allowing ourselves to be molded.

The LORD and His people: Potter and clay

A recurring lesson for Israel (North and South) through the prophets Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) and Yeshiyahu (Isaiah) is of יָצַר yatzar and חֹמֶר chomer, the One Who forms (Potter) and that which is formed (clay) (Jer. 18:4, 6; Isa. 29:16; 41:25; 45:9; 64:8). Especially in the prophecy given through Yeshiyahu we see the path from being indifferent to the Creator to anger to repentance. These are steps we can retrace.

Isaiah 29:13–16: You don’t see me!

Though critics will disagree on the timing and authorship of Isaiah 40–66, this chapter is connected to the reigns of kings mentioned in Isaiah 1:1, dating to the seventh or eight centuries B.C., before the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria.1

Israel’s leaders think their deeds against the LORD’s instructions and following other deities aren’t seen by the LORD.

Isaiah 41:25; 45:9: You’re impotent or incompetent!

Israel’s leaders admit the LORD can see their deeds, but the Almighty didn’t get Israel’s formation right or is powerless to form the nation at all.

Isaiah 64:8: We’re incompenent in shaping ourselves. Shape us again!

This lament comes with recognition that Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) is destroyed. This is a call for Heavenly reform, to re-form the clay of the Israel into the Potter’s original design.

The question at the end of Isaiah 64 about whether Heaven is silent at a time like this is followed by Heaven’s answer in Isaiah 65–66. That reform would come, but it would come by way of jealousy for the work the LORD would do to nations (goyim, aka “gentiles”) that weren’t originally part of Abraham’s ca...

Selfless love. Righteousness. Mercy. These teach us how to be strong in our walk through life,  how to keep from wandering from the path that the God of Israel has shown as the way life works best. These three show us what the point of our journey through life. They are the key lessons from the LORD’s appointments with humanity, further explained in the Torah reading פינחס Pinchas (“Phinehas,” Numbers 25:10-30:1). And chief among the appointments and the entry point for new believers is one that comes each week, the Shabbat (Sabbath).

Another key lesson in Pinchas is about the man after whom this reading is named. This junior priest, who would later be known as the “anointed for war,” looks forward to the coming Day of the LORD, when Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah, the Melchizedek high priest, will serve on Earth side by side with the legacy of the Aaronic priesthood.

Pinchas (Phineas) was the grandson of Israel’s first high priest, Aaron, and son of Eleazer, who with Itamar were the two surviving sons to carry on the priestly family.

Israel indeed had two eternal priesthoods: Pinchas, who lived on through the line of Zadok to become the Sadducees, and Yeshua, Who was born human through the kingly line of Yehudah (Judah), yet was the chief intercessor of Heaven before creation.

When we study what the symbols of the qorbanot (offerings) of the Tabernacle of God for Israel, we discover why apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12 that our actions and intentions behind them are offerings we can bring to God regardless of whether there is a Temple standing.

The list of offerings for the festivals in Numbers 29 teaches that the weekly Shabbat (Sabbath) is an entry point to God, where a sin offering isn’t part of the commemoration. Thus, Acts 15 connects starting laws for gentiles with Bible study on the Shabbat for new believers.

It’s apt that the double Torah reading חֻקַּת‎ Chukat and בָּלָק Balak (Numbers 19:1–25:9) this year includes Shabbat on July 4, when we here in the United States celebrate the Declaration of Independence and what it states about the intent for where this nation was going to go.

Ancient Israel was at a spiritual and literal crossroads. Would it embrace its destiny as the people beyond number (Genesis 15 and 22) and as a nation of priests (Exodus 19), taking the nations closer to the Creator?

Similarly, we in the U.S. can ask ourselves if we’re going to follow the God-led legacy of freedom started at Plymouth in 1620 or the greed-led legacy of bondage started in Jamestown in 1619? The Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights point to the Spirit-led legacy of Abraham through Sinai and Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) to Plymouth, rather than flesh-led legacy of Jamestown.

And we’ll see in this study that we can ask ourselves which kind of legacy are we pursuing in how we walk out our lives today and in the days to come.

It’s often said that if you want to start a revolution, you’d better know where it’s going. Otherwise, it often can come back around to get you.

That’s what set the American Revolution apart from the French Revolution that happened around the same time and the Bolshevik Revolution. The founders of the U.S. knew that man’s inclinations trended toward evil unless restrained, while the founders of the other two revolutions had few restrictions on power other than to use it to dethrone tyrants. Yet the outcomes of latter two movements were predictably tyranny, ensnaring many well-meaning participants.

In a sense, we see a similar thing at play in the Bible account of the beating by Bilam (Balaam) of his donkey. You could imagine it like a movie, with a split screen of Israel asking for passage through Abrahamic relatives in Edom and Moab but then having to skirt the borders, then the other split view of Bilam beating the donkey fortaking him in a direction he didn’t think he was wanting to go.

Was the LORD setting up ancient Israel to fail by bringing the people to the border of the Promised Land, telling them to send in 12 spies then condemning that generation from being too scared of the opposition to go in? The Torah reading שְׁלַח Shelakh (“send,” Numbers 13–15) underscores the teaching of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) that God’s salvation must be faith-based (John 6:26ff).

Discover in this study that what was true at the time of the Exodus is true for each of us today when we leave our “house of bondage” and go to God’s kingdom of “rest,” i.e., freedom.