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signed printsThe Dove of Peace in Jerusalem by Bracha Lavee

 

 “Jerusalem, a Burdensome Stone”

The Oracles of God in Zechariah 9-14 and the Beginning Days of Redemption

Translation by the New King James Version

Rabbinic Commentary by Maggid ben Yoseif

www.torah-voice.org 

Biblical Commentary by Robert D. Mock MD

robertmock@biblesearchers.com

 February 9, 2002

Reedited - May 2008

Zechariah 12, Verses 3-14

 

Topics

Jerusalem a Burdensome Stone

Nations of the Earth Gather against Jerusalem

The Lord of hosts will Smite the Nations

The Governors of Judah as a Hearth or Torch of Fire

The Latter Rain - Pouring out Grace and Supplication

The Scales Fall off the Eyes of the Jews and they accept Yahshua as an Anointed One

Mourning in the Land of Israel

 

Jerusalem a Burdensome Stone

 

Zechariah 14:2 – “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people:

All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces

Though all the people of the earth be gathered NE’ESFU together against it.”

 

The verb is the verb from which the name YOSEF is formed.  It is here used in the NIFAL form meaning the verb is passive or the action is done to the subject.  Therefore it will be a GATHERING OF THE NATIONS. Most of the commentators present this verse as TWO SEPARATE IDEAS. 1) Jerusalem will become a burdensome stone 2) a gathering ABOUT – NOT AGAINST – JERUSALEM.  (Against is NEGED, which is not the word here, the word here is AL, which means concerning, or about). The JOES today are seeing Jerusalem as their adopted mother as though Jerusalem will gather her children like a hen does her chicks.

http://www.bracha-lavee.com/prints/jerusalem/J04.jpg

This is an interesting and probably unique interpretation, especially with those of apocalyptic interpretations. In the David Stern’s version, the Complete Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) it states: “When that day comes, I will make Yerushalayim a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who try to lift it will hurt themselves, and all the earth’s nations will be massed against her.” 

 

The Mount of Olives” by Bracha Lavee

 

The first thing we must consider is the defining difference between the reeling, drunken nations that are around Israel that have drunk from the cup of God’s wrath.  The second verse of Zechariah clearly suggests that the people laying siege to Jerusalem are those nations that are ‘round about’ Jerusalem or in the near vicinity of Israel.

 

This text suggests a different conflict, yes a much later conflict when “all the people of the earth will be gathered about or gathered against Jerusalem.  Whereas, the first conflict will produce only a drunken disorientation to the invaders laying siege drinking from the chalice of God, the second conflict, the invaders will meet with physical destruction, as they will be ‘cut in pieces’. 

 

Nations of the Earth Gather against Jerusalem

 

http://www.judaicaheaven.com/catalog/wah-002_1small.jpgJerusalem, the Old City – Painting by David Roberts

 

So what do we have, the nations massing against Jerusalem, or the nations gathering around Jerusalem?  As usual, I feel the Lord of Hosts will present the most inclusive message to people of all ages.  As the research advances into the potential scenes at the time of the end, especially around the city of Jerusalem, I can envision both interpretations to be valid.

 

  1. Nations gather against JerusalemThis interpretation is by far the most popular and for centuries, scholars have gathered around its message.  The world will be split between the good and the evil, the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, the white and the black, the angels of light and the angels of darknessJerusalem will become the final station of them against usWhereas Jerusalem has over the millenniums been called God’s special place on earth, the focal point where God will focus His divine blessing and deliverance, this will also be the place where Satan, the angelic forces of darkness and all humans who align themselves with evil will seek to conquer and control. 

 

It will be the object of Satan to take control of HaShem’s visible capital on this earth.  Jerusalem is the one piece of real estate that the Lord of Hosts calls His own.  This interpretation suggests that this final event will be ArmageddonYet, this will not be the only time nations will gather against Jerusalem at the time of the endYes, there will be Gogu-Magog invasion, which may be the same or separate from the invasion by the King of the North (KON).  It also appears that Gog-Magog invasion will also be prior to the coming of Jesus and the second Gog-Magog invasion will occur at the end of the millennium (The “Day of the Lord as a thousand years”). 

 

  1. The sea of Galilee, from the heights of Safed, pp2071bNations gather about JerusalemIt is suggested that Jerusalem’s perspective with the geo-political future of the world will increasing become more and more dominant.  At the end of the 19th century, Jerusalem was but a dusty Middle Eastern city forgotten by the world except for a few intrepid travelers like Scottish Painter David Roberts (1850) and American Author Mark Twain (1867).  By the end of the 20th century, with the Palestinian strident demands for national autonomy and for their capital seat to be in Jerusalem, Jerusalem was looming as a hot spot in world politics as the Palestinians and World Oil teemed up against the Jews and JerusalemWith the beginning of the 21st century, the Islamic intifada against Israel broke out under the banner of the 20th century, super terrorist, Yassir Arafat with the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Osama ben Laden’s al Qaida and all the splinter terrorist groups it has spawned.   

 

Picturesque Palestine at the Sea of Galilee - BiblePlaces

 

Jerusalem will become a stone for all the nations to trample upon, yet in the process they themselves will be cut into pieces, even though the collective military might of all the countries of the world will be against Jerusalem.  This battle has all the appearance of the final Armageddon battle with the final assault, not being against the Land of Israel, but by the Lord God of Israel against those that battle against His people. 

 

The Lord of hosts will Smite the Nations

 

Zechariah 12:4 – “In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment ,

And his rider with madness:

And I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite                

Every horse of the people with blindness.”

 

Most of the Jewish commentators state this will be a PLAGUE from which Jerusalem will be shielded but all those who oppose her will die.

 

First of all, this is the second time “in that day” is used in this chapter, coupling the invasion of Armageddon in verse 3 with the events in this verse.  Three events will happen:  the military warhorses will be smitten with astonishment, the military personnel will be struck with madness and the eyes of Judah will be opened. 

 

Using modern warfare vehicles, the horses become tanks and air force jets of an invasion forceHow can we imagine a jet or a tank be astonished except that their air guidance systems will be overpowered by a supernatural force. The Hebrew for this word is, astonishment, is timmahown, (Strong’s 8541) which, comes from the root, tamahh, which has the meaning to be in consternation, to be amazed, to marvel or to wonder. 

 

Is it a wonder that the pilots, of the jets and drivers of the tanks (riders of the horses) will become confused as they try to control their military machines against forces  the overwhelm their guidance systems by which they have no control.  They will become controlled with madness. Here the Hebrew word, shiggaown, (Strong’s’ 7697) means, to becomes raving with insanity, craziness, or furious with mad intent.  

 

The last descriptive word, is the Lord of Hosts will “smite every horse of the people with blindness.”  Here the Hebrew, ivvarown, (Strong's 5788) coming from the root, avar, suggests that the blindness is externally induced such as the application of a film over the eyes to put out sight. 

 

Is it not interesting that the only other place in the entire scripture that uses these three words, singly or collectively, is in Deuteronomy 28:28, where the Lord of Hosts gives the Blessings and the Curses upon the Children of Israel?  If they “do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:”  (Deuteronomy 28:1)  Within the curses, “the Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and astonishment of heart.” (confusion of mind). (NKJV)”  (Deuteronomy 28:28)  The curses, the Lord of Hosts promised to inflict upon his disobedient people, He will instead inflict upon those to gather to gather to destroy His people in the end of this era. 

 

In the era of horse cavalry battles, for the horses to become blind, would seem reasonable, but, what about modern jets, bombers, tanks and missiles?  This would not be understandable until the recent era of laser-guided missiles in the War against Terror in Afghanistan?  With the War against Iraq the use of microwave bombs which will destroy all electronic circuitry suggests that we are no far removed from a blindness within the guidance system of the laser guided missiles.  We now can envision a total meltdown in our present military strategy of overwhelming air bombardment in destroying enemy military defenses.  Shut down the radar and laser guidance systems and we may literally have jets and helicopters crashing and colliding in mid air and tanks randomly crashing into each other. 

 

The Governors of Judah as a Hearth or Torch of Fire

The Nations around will be Devoured  

 

Zechariah 12:5 – “And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart,

The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God.”

http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2007/0702/a_meshaal_abbas0209.jpg

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R), Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (C|) and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh walk inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca on February 9, 2007 – Photot by Suhaib Salem / EPA

 

The Hebrew for the word, governors, is ‘alluphim, or leaders of provinces, such as existed in the era of the satraps of Persia.  With a slightly different vowel pointing, it gives a reading alaphim.’  This same reading can be translated as “thousands” (I Samuel 10:19) or “clans” (RSV) See Micah  5:2.  Does this suggest that soon, Israel will be assuming a different form of government? 

 

http://www.theworld.org/files/images/salamfayyad.img_assist_custom.jpgThe State or Nation of Israel could emerge from a homogeneous nation that the only citizens with full rights are people of known Jewish identity to a government that allows indigenous inhabitants to have full citizenship rights in the land. 

 

Palestinian Prime Minister Salah Fayyad who was appointed by

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007 without Palestinian Legislative approval

 

Let us review the events in Zechariah: 

 

Zechariah 9:7 - “I will dash the blood of sacrifices from his mouth and his loathsome offerings from his teeth; and his survivors shall belong to our God and he shall become like a clan (governor) in Judah, and Ekron (northernmost of the five cities of the Philistines) like a Jebusite. (the people who controlled the city site of Salem, when David conquered it, and these people later lived in peace with Israel).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left), Saudi King Abdullah and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal poseThis oracle was specifically aimed at the Philistines in the time of Zechariah and can be applied to their namesakes, the Palestinians, living in the same region of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron and Ashdon at the time of the end. Then the oracle states that a disaster will befall these people, their leader, or king will be deposed or destroyed and the venom-spewing hatred that flow from their mouth in curses and death threats to God’s people (blood of sacrifices from his mouth and his loathsome offerings from his teeth) will be destroyed or cease to exist.  Not only that, those that remain after this disaster, “the survivors shall belong to our God”, the God of Israel.  Then the oracle states, the remnant of the Palestinians population with become like a clan or as a governor in Judah

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left), Saudi King Abdullah and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal pose after talks in Mecca. Getty Images

 

Are we seeing today, the beginning of the end for Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority under the presidency of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City and the terrorists who live under their rule in the land, who know only hatred towards Israel and the God of Israel? 

 

The two most prominent literal prophetic features of the Oracles of Zechariah 9 against the Palestinians and Damascus, Syria who harbors all the Middle Eastern terrorist organizations within the capital city are:

 

http://powerlineblog.com/archives/smiling.jpgZechariah 9:1, 5 (parts)“The burden of the word of the Lord…Ashkelon shall see it and fear; Gaza also shall be very sorrowful; and Ekron, for He dried up her expectation. The king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.”

 

Palestinian Hamas Leader Khaled Meshaal with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, Iran in 2006  

 

All during the rule of Yassir Arafat, he ruled only from the Palestinian Authority at Ramallah in the West Bank.  Arafat never went to or ruled from the Gaza Strip District.  In the year of 2008, the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the non-elected Palestinian Prime Minister Salah Sayyad do not rule from the Gaza District but also from the Palestinian Authority Compound in Ramallah on the West Bank. On the other hand, there is a democratically elected government that was elected in March 2006, the Hamas Organization that is the Palestinian Chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood that has a “ruler” or “king” that rules from the Gaza Strip. 

 

Organized in 1987 together with the late Sheik Ahmed Yassim, Khaled Meshaal is the leading

http://english.people.com.cn/200602/20/images/0219_D47.jpg political leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement.  He lives under strong security in exile at Damascus, Syria after he survived an assassination attempt reputed to be by the Israeli Mossad in Ammon Jordan in 1997.  Thought the driving force of the Hamas movement, Palestinian Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has never ruled from Gaza. 

 

The Palestinian Hamas Prime Minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh flanked by a Poster of the Dome of the Rock and a Hamas Flag

 

As of 2008, the ruling “king” of Gaza is the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail HaniyehOn March 2008, the headquarters of the Hamas Organization was destroyed by the IDF in Gaza in retaliation for the persistent rocket attacks against the Jewish community of Sderot

 

 

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya addresses the rally Are we also seeing the beginning of a political revolution, which will change the  government within the land of Israel that will allow the assimilation of peoples, not of Jewish blood to inhabit the land, but as the Gibeonites did in the days of Joshua and the Jebusites did in the days of David? When the governors of Judah shall say, “there is strength to me and to the inhabitants in the Lord of hosts our God.”  Will one of these governors be over the clans of the Palestinians who are now peaceful co-inhabitants in the land of Israel and recognize the protective hands of the God of Jacob?

 

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh addresses the Hamas 2007 Hamas Anniversary Rally with a huge Poster of the group's founder, the late Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, behind him – BBC News

 

All through the Old Testament, we see evidence of governors being appointed persons to represent their respective people to the authorities of the land or empire throughout all  the Middle Eastern empires.  Joseph was made governor over the entire land of Egypt (Genesis 42: 6), Gedaliah, was made governor over Judah by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, (2 Kings 25:23), Sheshbazzar (Zerubabbel) (Ezra 5:14) and later Nehemiah (Nehemiah 12:26) were made governors over Judah by the Persian kings, Cyrus and Artaxerses I.  Will the present Zionist government of the Nation of Israel be appointing governors as Israel converts to a government more attune to her ancient heritage?  While the nations of the world will be affirming a global democracy with the approaching one-world government, the Nation of Israel may convert back to an Oriental form of a theocratic government.

 

Two important trends began in the year of 2008 when on March 1, 2008 the city of Ashkelon, for the first time, came under attack by rockets from the Hamas terrorists in the Gaza RegionThis expansion of the War between forces of Amalek and their descendant, the Persian Prime Minister Haman and the Jewish people living now in the cities without walls in Israel along the seacoast of the Mediterranean, now begins to affect our prophetic vision of the Oracles of Zechariah at the time of the end when it states in Zechariah 9:5 that Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.” 

Image:Ashkelonskyline.jpg

The Mediterranean Israeli city of Ashkelon

 

This sobering thought gives a poignant literal reality to the biblical prophetic texts for this Israeli city in the western Negev near the remains of the ancient seaport of Ashkelon that flourished since the Bronze Age under the rulers of Canaan, and later the Philistines, the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Muslims, the Crusaders until it was destroyed by the Mamluks of Egypt in the 13th centuryRebuilt in the 16th century, the Arab village of al-Majdal, stood near this site at the time of the creation of the State of Israel in the year of 1948.  With successive rubble of fifty feet over one of the “five cities” of the Philistines by the subsequent occupations, this village of 11,000 Arabs in 1947 is today the thriving city of 117,000 Israelis along the Mediterranean Sea that also hosts one of the largest electrical plants in Israel. 

Ashqelon as mentioned on Merneptah Stele: iskeluni

The Egyptian Engraving of Iskeluni on the Merneptah Stele

 

Mentioned on the Merneptah Stele that is also known as the Israel Stele or the Victory Stele of Merneptah that was erected during the rule of the Egyptian king Amenhotep III and engraved during the rule of Merneptah between the years of 1213 to 1203 BCE, it was also mentioned in the Amarna Letters that included the seven letter correspondence between Ashkelon/(Ašqaluna) in 1350 BCE and the Egyptian Pharaoh Yidya.  The Philistine culture was destroyed just prior to the destruction of the Temple of Solomon and the Jewish culture in the Kingdom of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BCE

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Tolaim/ResizeImg.aspx?save=1&source=album&album=263&image=3533&a=377&b=1000

Ancient Ruins at the Ashkelon National Park with the

High Rise Buildings of the Modern City of Ashkelon Behind

 

Ashkelon was also renown as the site of a massive witch hunt by the Pharisee scholar, Rabbi Simeon ben Shetah who was the Nasi of the Great Sanhedrin about 88 BCE when in a single day, eighty Ashkelon women were sentenced to death after begin charged with witchcraft.  This documentation has been confused by mistranslations of a Talmudic passage that was suggested that Miriam, the mother of Yahshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah) was documented in the Jewish Talmud as being the daughter of Heli”. 

 

This ancient city was also the birthplace of Herod the Great and was rebuilt and enriched by the Herodian building culture.  During the Crusades, the Battle of Ascalon saw the Fatimid Army defeated shortly after the European Crusaders captured the city of Jerusalem in 1099 CE.  It was this moment of brutal reality of time that is still freshly imbedded in every Islamic mind when in the course of about eighteen hours, almost every inhabitant of Jerusalem was massacred by the Crusaders; Muslims, Jews and Christians alike.  As documented in Wikipedia;

 

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Tolaim/ResizeImg.aspx?save=1&source=album&album=263&image=3531&a=377&b=1000Seige of Jerusalem (1099) by Wikipedia“Many Muslims sought shelter in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where, according to one famous account in Gesta, "...the slaughter was so great that our men waded in blood up to their ankles..." According to Raymond of Aguilers "men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins." The chronicle of Ibn al-Qalanisi states the Jewish defenders sought refuge in their synagogue, but the "Franks burned it over their heads", killing everyone inside.  The Crusaders circled the flaming building while singing "Christ, We Adore Thee!"  Tancred claimed the Temple quarter for himself and offered protection to some of the Muslims there, but he could not prevent their deaths at the hands of his fellow crusaders. The Fatimid governor Iftikhar ad-Daula withdrew to the Tower of David, which he soon surrendered to Raymond in return for safe passage for himself and bodyguards to Ascalon.”

 

Flock of Sheep in the Ruins of the Ashkelon National Park

 

As the modern forces of destruction again reigns over the land of Israel. This initial bombardment of rockets was documented on the Arutz Sheva Photo Essay, “Ashkelon deals with Missile Threat”.  This threat is only overshadowed by the implications of the ancient prophets. With the hospitals in Ashkelon now going into protective environments and the premature pediatric ICU having to move to underground bunkers, the 13th largest city in Israel is facing dark cloud of prophetic omens. It is here where the northern terminus for the Trans-Israel pipeline that transports oil from the Red Sea Israeli harbor of Eilat to the oil terminal at the Port of Ashkelon is located.  Also in Ashkelon is the largest water desalination plant in the world that produces over 330,000 cubic meters of water per day. The days ahead of Ashkelon are looming as part of the unthinkable messianic apocalypse that faces Jerusalem and Israel.

 

Yet the voice of the Lord of hosts, through his prophets, also describes an awaking within the Jewish Israeli consciousness.

 

Zechariah 12:6“In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood,

and like a torch of fire in a sheaf;”

 

The transformation of the House of Judah now begins to unfold. The ancient tales of the sons of Jacob that are read in many of the apocryphal texts were tales like the hero stories of the ancients; Hercules and the Titans.  These ancient sons of Isaiah were men of renown whose vigor and strength of the body were a symbolic of the God of Israel in which they served.  Are we beginning a new era of military heroes?  The leadership of Israel, the governors, will become like kiyor or kippor, (Strong’s 3595) meaning a chafing dish for coals or a caldron for cooking (1 Samuel 2:14) or washing (Exodus 30:18) or in other words like a fire pot.”  

 

Even so, the Lamsa translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta, states that hearth is a “fiery coal” in the midst of tinder wood gives a better sense of the branding fire of Judah.  The rapid combustion of a torch of fire in a sheaf or stubble of grain produces a great visual image of the powerful role the people of Judah will play in the events in which they appear to be surrounded and overwhelmed

 

“And they shall devour all the people round about,

On the right hand and on the left:”

 

Here is the Davidian imagery of slaying the enemy on the right and the left.  This is the stuff of poetry and mythical legends.  Yet King David was real and the historical validity of the history of the Jews is constantly being verified by archeological and new manuscript discoveries. 

 

“And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.”

http://tadamon.resist.ca/wp-content/uploads/F4_idf.jpg

Israeli Air Force

 

This is a disturbing thought, through all the wars still in the future, will Jerusalem once again become non-inhabited by the Jewish people?   Well in reality, for almost 1900 years, Jerusalem was not inhabited as a sovereign place for her own people.  Even though the Nation of Israel became a historical reality in May, 1948, it was not until 1967, that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was captured and the whole city of Jerusalem came under the sovereign power of the Jewish State of Israel. 

 

http://www.zchor.org/picsisrael/soldierIDF.jpgIf you were to relook at Revelation 11, understanding that the city of Jerusalem is not named once in this prophetic book, we see the two witnesses representing the God of Israel on this earth at the time of the end.  One thing we do see is hours before the coming of Yehoshua (Jesus), the two witnesses are captured and killed in a “great city”, whose name is in allegory, “Sodom or Egypt.” (Revelation 11:8)   This city is identified as the city “where also their Lord was crucified.” (vs. 9)  Then:

 

Israeli Orthodox Jew at the Battle Lines

 

Revelation 11:9-10 - “For three days and a half men from every people and tribe, of every language and nation, gaze upon their corpses and refuse them burial.  All men on earth gloat over them, make merry, and exchange presents; for these two prophets were a torment to the whole earth.”

 

What are we seeing in this picture but the city of Jerusalem in these last few days before the Messiah (Maschiach) is to come, now under the control of the Anti-Messiah’s (Antichrist) forces that surround the city, whose military headquarters are at Megiddo.  In Zechariah 14:2, it clearly states,

 

Zechariah 12:6 - “I will gather all the peoples to fight against Jerusalem;

The city shall be taken, the houses plundered and the women raped

Half the city shall go into exile,

But the rest of the nation in the city shall not be wiped out.”

 

The city of Jerusalem, at this time, will have no independent and sovereign control over her destiny.  Then a great cataclysm will occur, the continental plates under the city will begin to move, and a massive uplift will occur at the site of the Temple of the Lord.  During this time, as prophesied by Yahshua the remainder of God’s people within the city will escape through a ravine opened up by the great earthquake which leads to the area of Petra, an ancient impenetrable desert fortressSalvation will be to the people of God, because they are not in the city, not because of war and terror of enemy forces, but because God is in the process of redesigning the land surrounding the city He calls His own, Jerusalem and preparing it as a place of habitation for His people during the millennium. 

                       

Zechariah 12:7 – “The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first,

That the glory of the house of David and the

Glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem

Do not magnify themselves against Judah.”

 

http://www.tldm.org/News10/IDF.jpgIn a full scale invasion, the outer or perimeter garrisons served as a protective shield to the heart of Judah that was JerusalemOver and over, these military groups were sacrificed to save the king and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.  This time though, the protective hand of Hashem will be seen in the land across Judah, the homes, the villages (tents) that the might and “glory” of the inhabitants will be renown throughout the land.  The mighty men will appear to be on the frontier instead of within the city proper.

 

Zechariah 12:8 – In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

And he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David;

And the house of David shall be as God,

As the angel of the Lord before them.

 

The Israeli Simulated War with Syria

 

When the defense of the city proper of Jerusalem is shown at its weakest, even the weakest will appear to be as invincible as David, the king. The House of David” or Jerusalem proper will appear to have the power of God. The imagery of the invincible Israel as they fled from Egypt, with the glory of the Lord or the “angel” that went before them, gave the Israelites security and a sense of impenetrable protection. 

 

Zechariah 12:9 – And it shall come to pass in that day,

that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

 

Here is another reference to in that day”, when the return of Jesus in the clouds of glory, as Yehoshua HaMaschiach ben David will return as the King of kings.  Here is Yahshua’s personal warning to those that oppose him, “I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” 

 

The Latter Rain- Pouring our Grace and Supplication

 

Zechariah 12:10 – “And I will pour upon the house of David,

And upon the inhabitants ofJerusalem,

The spirit of grace and of supplications:”

 

This is the repentance towards HaShem that softens the hearts of the gathered children of Israel, which ignites a revival among Judah which culminates in the Messiah coming, according to Rashi. It is seen as gratitude for HaShem’s divine intervention which all the city will see, in saving the city from destruction.

 

When the Lord of Hosts pours out His Spirit of grace and supplication, the Sefirot of the World of the Divine touches and anchors itself on this three-dimensional planet at Zion in Jerusalem.  When I was first studying the models of the sefirot of the Divine by Isaac Luria, a famed mystical Jewish Rabbi in Safed, Palestine in the 16th century, I believed that the Holy Spirit was the same as the “Daat”, the veil that stood before the Ein Sof, the Unseen and Unknowing Monotheistic God of IsraelYet when I realized the manifestations of the Holy Spirit during the Pentecost as tongues of fire was none other than the Shekinah glory that stood over the mercy seat upon the Ark of the Covenant, and the same as the “fire” that resided in yet did not consume the burning bush before Moses in the Midian desert, than I realized that the Holy Spirit was none other than the Malkhut or kingdom at the base of the world of the Divine. The Malkhut is the Kingdom of the Lord, Yahshua kept saying, He was going to bring to all his people.

 

The Wilderness Tabernacle at Sunset

Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith,

copyright 1992. Click here to visit her "Revelation Illustrated" site

 

What Zechariah was stating, after the Land of Israel has expanded into Lebanon, the northern border of Israel and the Damascus region of Syria, Gilead, and Basham on the eastern side of the Jordan River, the House of Judah, the Jews living in the Land of Israel, will seek to find and open their hearts to their lost cousins, the House of Joseph (Ephraim). This new found bonding with their own kin, will also open their hearts to a new and a more spiritual relationship with HaShem, their God, and their messiah, Yahshua ben Joseph, who was sent by HaShem to them in the 1st century, for the spiritual implantation of the “Kingdom of God” on this earth. 

 

For almost two thousand years, the spiritual powers of Light and darkness have been fighting over who will obtain the final right to possession of this planet earth.  The intensity of this battle is escalating towards the time of the end.  This cosmic battle, being fought all the way down the sefirot of creations (see Zechariah 12:1) will finally reach the Malkhut level, the Kingdom of God on this earth. This earth, where the Sefirot of the Lord sets itself down, will become the battleground of the Ages

 

The satanic terrorists aim their evil at the South TowerWhen HaShem addressed the author of this book as, Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, He actually was stating, “God remembers and God blesses at the appointed time”.  Read it again like in Hebrew, it states, At the appointed time, God blesses and God remembers”.

 

Precipitated by the fall of the Twin Towers on 911 (2001), American Air Force entered the National Air Space of Afghanistan on the 7th day of Succot, 2001 and the War on Terror began – This event was prophesied by 108 year old Rabbi Yikzhak Kaduri to begin the 7 Year War of Gogu-Magog.

 

http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2004/05/28/image620256x.jpgAs Zechariah 12:3 is identified as in that day, we are now are witnessing an event at the very end of times, when the Sefirot of the World of the Divine rests upon this earth, at the place, God calls His very own, JerusalemAt the very time, the Lord for Israel, the Messiah ben David, Yehoshua, is saving the tents of Judah (vs. 7) defending the inhabitants of Jerusalem (vs. 8)  and seeking to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem (vs. 9), He will pour out upon the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications.(vs.10) If this is correct, associated with the Second Coming of Jesus, the Latter Rain, the Spirit of the Lord will be sent to Judah and Jerusalem.

 

Sheik Muqtada al-Sadr and his Jaysh al-Mahdi militia opened the Mahdi Revolt against the American Coalition in Baghdad on Passover, April 5, 2004

 

What then is our timetable? 

 

 

 

 

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 

Annapolis Conference on November 27, 2007

 

http://www.terradaily.com/images/africa-ethiopia-famine-bg.jpgThat same month, the Vatican controlled forces of NATO forces were placed in Lebanon headed by the Italian UNIFIL forces and NATO forces took over the War of AfghanistanAnnapolis Conference was held at the U.S. Naval Academy in the United States on November 27, 2007.

 

The Famines of Africa begin to Grip the Whole Earth

 

This was the first international peace conference in which the two-state solution for a final state for the Palestinians was articulated by a “mutually agreed-upon outline” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.  Attended and supported by the United States and Europe, it was attended by Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority but rejected by Hamas and Iran. This conference was cloaked under the global threat of progressive famine when the failure of the Australian and Ukrainian wheat crop signaled a long world-wide famine looming over this planet in which the Jewish sages foretold would last for over three years.

 

 

 

Global Earthquakes and Tsunamis Grip the

Globe in the 6th Seal of Revelation

 

 

The Annapolis Conference on November 27, 2007

by Lekerev Report

 

For almost two thousand years, the literal chosen ones of God, the Houses of Judah and Joseph, lived in literal and spiritual exile.  During this era when the “fullness of the Gentiles” was being prepared, they began to develop their spiritual acumenOf the 613 commandments of the Lord in the Torah, commanded by HaShem, that Israel was to follow, a majority of commandments were centered upon the services of a Temple to the Lord.  Without the Temple, the Jews developed a spiritual third eye

 

During that same era, Spiritual Israel, the gentile Christian church, lost her philosophical foundation when she lost her Hebraic-Judeo roots.   Without being grounded in the literal roots of Torah, the Christian Church wandered in the wildernessShe had spiritualized herself all over religious landscapeWithout her literal roots of Torah, she became lost.  She became arrogant, thinking that she was “Spiritual Israel” and destined to replace literal Israel.  During these two millenniums, it was the mission of Spiritual Israel to recover and restore her literal spiritual roots in her Hebrew-Judaic ancestral faith yet assists Literal Israel to restore “emuna” or “faith” in her messiah. Also during this time, it has been the mission of Literal Israel to rediscover her spiritual roots, in the restoration of her Hebrew language, the restoration of her national homeland, the restoration of her festivals of the Lord, the restoration of her Temple, and the restoration of her messiah, Yehoshua.

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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the Rome Peace Conference on Lebanon – July 26, 2006

 

 During the era of the Hebrews, the priests, prophets and then the kings were anointed with oil symbolizing the anointing or gift of the Holy Spirit.  When Yahshua was anointed in the River Jordan, by the presence of the dove, he went to the wilderness to be tested and then in the synagogue at Nazareth, where He announced His office of messiahship as He quoted the prophet Isaiah,

 

Isaiah 61:1, quoted in Luke 4:18 - “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners….”.

 

The War against Terror in Afghanistan

 

Moreover to his spiritual followers, Jews first and then gentiles, He promised to fill them  with the Holy Spirit, not sparingly, but in full measure.  The first outpouring of the Holy Spirit was seen at the primitive Hebrew Nazarene Ecclesia at Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Church, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost(Acts 1)

 

It has been charged that the Jewish people rejected the messiahship of Christ when He was living here on earth.  A careful look at the history of the early Jewish Nazarenes vividly suggests that the followers of Yahshua became the dominant party in the Jewish economic social culture until the year of 62 CE.  At that time, James the Just, the Nasi of the Jewish Nazarene Sanhedrin, and head of the Jewish Nazarene Synagogue, who was the brother of Yahshua, was killed by the same Sadducee family of the House of Hanan, whose Patriarch Ananias, and his son-in-law, Joseph Caiphas, were responsible for the death of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua over thirty years prior. 

 

The House of Ananus had bought and bribed the Roman governors for several decades in order to maintain control of the office of the High Priest and the lucrative income that it provided.  It was Caiphas the High Priest, who captured, betrayed, put Yahshua on trial and then had Him crucified by hanging on a tree, as a man accursed of God upon the side of the Mount of Olives. 

 

It was Jonathan the High Priest, of the same House of Ananus, who had the Nazarene Deacon, Stephen stoned and then commissioned the Pharisee student Shaul (Apostle Saul) to hunt and kill the Nazarene believers as he drove them throughout the wilderness of Perea above Damascus in 37 CE.  This High Priest Jonathan was in turn assassinated under suspicious conditions during the governorship of Felix sometimes between the years of 55-59 CE by the Sicarii, the ultra-right assassin squads of the Zealots. 

 

It was the High Priest Ananus, the younger brother of Jonathan, the former High Priest, who in turn had Jacob (James) the Just, the leader of the Jerusalem Nazarene Ecclesia (Jerusalem Church) put on trial before the Sanhedrin in 62 CE, for “transgressions against the law” and then stoned and clubbed to death.  

 

http://www.honestreporting.com/Images/sharontemplemount.jpgNot only that, the power “movers and shakers” in Jewish society were the Herodians, or the family of Herod the GreatHerod was not a Jew or of Hebrew blood, but was an Idumean, of the House of Esau, called in this era, Edomites.  We know well the opinion of the Lord of hosts in Malachi 1:2-3, when He stated, “Jacob, I have loved, but Esau, I have hated.”

 

The pre-Rosh Hashanah Visit of Israeli candidate Ariel Sharon that Triggered the pre-planned Islamic Intifada after the Failed Clinton-Arafat-Barak Camp David Accord

 

The House of David and the Essenes by a careful historical review were not to blame for the death of Yahshua nor were the masses of peasants living in the land.  It was known that many of the priests in Jerusalem became followers of Yahshua, which probably many Pharisees were included.  It was the Jewish Nazarene Ecclesia, the primitive followers of Jesus, who were faithful and practicing Torah observing JewsThey had the ear and allegiance of the Zealots, the Essenes, a large company of priests who lived in the Ophel in the Old City of David, the sympathy of a majority of the poor and lower class Jews who lived in the Lower City and the Tyropean Valley. 

 

It is the descendants of these people that the Spirit of God will pour out the Spirit of Grace and Supplication. 

 

The Scales will Fall off the Eyes of the Jews

 - They will accept Yahshua as an Anointed One

 

Zechariah 12:10b - And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son,

And shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in

Bitterness for his firstborn.

 

It will be this appearance of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace upon the House of David, the guardians of the oracles of God, the Torah, that will turn the hearts of Judah to recognized the son, whose national leaders were responsible for the death of Jesus (Yahshua) two thousands years ago.

 

This is a complicated explanation, but it is crucial to understanding this verse. So I’m going to break it down word for word:

V’hibitu           (and they shall look)

eylai                (to me - not upon me.) 

                        “Upon me” would be spelled AYIN-LAMED-YOD, but here you have ALEPH-LAMED-YOD.

 

The word “to” is ALEPH-LAMED, not AYIN-LAMED)

Again, we have another Christian presupposition imposed in the text.

Et                    (This is the sign of the direct object)

asher dakaru (This is the object of the direct object introduced by the adverb “Asher” (who, whom, which) “DAKARU”.

 

The question is whether this is the NIPHAL form of the verb, which characteristically begins with a NUN, which will assimilate or drop out when preceded by a MAGGEPH (the little line joining two words) or whether it is the KAL form of the verb.

 

If it is the KAL, then it should be translated “THEY THRUST THROUGH” and the phrase would read they would “look to me who they thrust through” (the traditional translation representing the Christian theological presupposition). But if it is the NIPHAL, then it should be translated “THEY WERE THRUST THROUGH” and the phrase would read “they would look to me because they were thrust through”

 

v’safdu           (and they shall mourn)

alahv               (over him…not the singular, not plural.  I will explain below.)

k’mispeyd      (as one mourns)

al                     (over)

hayachid        (an only son)

v’hameyr        (and shall be in bitterness) 

alahv k’hameyr (therefore as one is embittered)

al hab’chor     (over a firstborn) 

 

So our translation is:

 

And they would look to Me, because they were thrust through.

And they shall mourn over Him, as one mourns over an only son,

And shall be in bitterness therefore as one is embittered over a firstborn.

 

Instead of the tradition translation:

 

And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced,

And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son,

and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

 

I want to quote directly from an English translation of the Hebrew Trei Asar (10 Books of the Minor Prophets) re: this ONE who is MOURNED:

 

Our sages expounded this in tractate Sukkah (52a) as referring to the Messiah, son of Joseph. who was slain.—[Rashi] The origin of the messiah son of Joseph is related in Zohar Hadash, Balak (Israeli ed. 69a, earlier ed. 56a), where it is stated: On that day, when Abijah the son of Jeroboam died, a son was born to Abijah. That son was taken from the house of Jeroboam to the desert; and there they took one hundred and seventy men, all righ­teous, from the tribe of Ephraim, who were not guilty of the sin of Jeroboam. That messiah is descend­ed from that son of Abijah.

 

Con­cerning [that messiah] it is written (I Kings 14:13): “And all of Israel shall eulogize him and bury him.” The meaning of this prophecy is con­cealed, in that it applies to its own time as well as the future. “For he alone of Jeroboam shall come to a grave, for there is found in that mes­siah a good thing toward Hashem, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.” This is that messiah, for he is a good thing toward Hashem.

 

In other words, according to the NIPHAL conjugation of the verb (which is just as reliable as the KAL), then it appears that there are many dead who are mourned and among them is the messiah son of Joseph.

 

When will the inhabitants of Jerusalem see the Messiah, but at his second coming.  The long awaited Messiah by the Orthodox Jews will be realized, only to see, He was their own son, whose national leaders had pierced upon Calvary.  The lamentations will be immediate, as a collective grief overwhelms the national consciousness of the people of Judah.  He was not just a son, but recognized as the first-born, one with all the family rights, privileges, and blessings bestowed upon him.

 

As you can see from the above interpretation, it is not so believed. This messiah ben Yosef was a “firstborn” because he is from the tribe of the bechor (the birthright).  As you know, Yahshua was from Judah. The death of the messiah ben Yosef, according to the sages, IMMEDIATELY precedes the coming of Messiah Son of David. This is explained in a book I am now studying in Yeshiva called “the KOL HA-TUR” written by the Vilna Ga’on, the most knowledgeable Jewish mystic who ever lived when it came to prophecy and eschatology.  Unfortunately most all of his works are in Hebrew. In the Kol Ha-Tur, he explains the concept of the “footsteps of the Messiah.” I am studying this with Rav Schneider. 

 

It is true, the traditional rabbinic thought is that there are two messiahs and the first messiah, Mashiach ben Joseph, the Suffering Servant will come at the end of days and through his suffering will reveal to the Jewish people the real messiah, the Mashiach ben David.  This will be the future ruler of Israel in the millennium.  Is this an illusion or supposition to replace the reality that their national leaders had rejected Yahshua as their Maschiach ben Joseph, in the 1st century and Yahshua will return as the Maschiach ben David, the King of kings and Lord of lords?  At the same time, the majority of the masses of Jewish people accepted the messiahship of Yahshua.

 

Let us replay this whole theme.  One of the theses of the Searchers, is the idea that all prophecies in the past were but dramatic acts to acquainted the Hebrews of the real events to occur in the future.  By playing this theme over and over again, year after year, surely they would recognize the real event when it happened.

 

The purpose of the Spring Festivals of the Lords was to acquaint the Hebrews to the first coming of the messiah ben Yosef.  The panorama of Passover, step by step, was reenacted year by year, to have it played out literally step by step by Yahshua, as the real Pesach Lamb of God.  Type met anti-type in the Passover – Crucifixion drama.  The historical fulfillment of this prophecy, as noted in John 19:37, was when Yahshua was pierced in His side with the Roman lance by the Roman centurion. 

 

Here at the site of Yahshua’s death, were a whole crowd of sightseersLuke tells us, “And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts.”  (Luke 23:48)  Let us revisit this scene.  Most scholars would suggest that these were the family and friends of Jesus observing from afar.  The context suggests that those who came to observe this spectacle, were the same participants to this ongoing drama in the courtyard of the Roman Governor PilateIt was they who earlier were crying out, “Crucify him, crucify him in the judgment hall of PilateThey are now confronted with the full enormity of their deeds.  Here they smote their breasts in anguish, overpowered by the proof of the superhuman exaltation of their messiah’s death and were now lamenting in guilt over their participation in Yahshua’s (Jesus’s) death. Here was the climax of the death of Jesus. Was the execution of Yahshua (Jesus) the fulfillment of this Zechariah prophecy, or was it a prophecy within a prophecy?

 

The question, was the execution of Yahshua the fulfillment of the hope of the first messiah in the oral traditions of the Jews?  Were the life, ministry and execution of Yahshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah), yet but a drama to be replayed in final form at the time of the end, when Yehoshua (Jesus) returns again upon the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:1)?  As told to the disciples, Yahshua would return in the same manner as He left when He was lifted up or levitated away from His disciples and then surrounded by a dense fog or cloud. (Acts. 1:11)  Most of Christendom think that the only coming of Yehoshua at the time of the end will be in the clouds of Glory, when the saints that are left are raptured up to be with Yehoshua (Jesus) as He returns in the clouds of heaven(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)  Yet most of the Orthodox Jews, think that the Moschiach ben Joseph will come as the first messiah to prepare Israel for the coming of Moschiach ben David. What if they both are correct?  This could be a plot within a plot of a very complex drama, the finale of the Drama of the Ages. 

 

Let us recreate a potential scenario.  The time of the end is here and during this era, it will be recognized that the observant orthodox Jews are literal representatives of HaShem as living out the Torah in the flesh, and the gentile spiritual Jews, as spiritual representative of living out Torah in the spiritThere may be a spectrum, where many literal Jews are living a mystical life of the spirit and may be closer akin to many gentile Christians believers, living a life of the spirit.  Yet, most of the Jewish people in this future date will be having a rendezvous with destiny, finding the spiritual significance of the literal Torah filled life they had been observing.  The Torah in the Word, had been presented to them in the 1st century as the Torah in the flesh.  Now, in that day, the “Torah in the flesh” will present Himself again, this time as the “Torah in the Spirit”. 

 

On the other hand, the gentile Spiritual Israelite will be discovering their literal Hebrew philosophical roots, those roots their forefather’s cast aside by the Roman Christian Church in the 3rd and 4th centuryLiving a former life without Torah, the teachings of the Law, they now begin to live a life of Torah observant, this time in the glorified body as a Light Being, part physical and part Spirit. What a vibrant spectrum of spiritual living at the time of the end, will these final actors represent? 

 

Some prophecy scholars suggest that when Yehoshua (Jesus) returns riding on the white horse as King of kings, He will rapture those people most representative of spiritual Israel to join the angelic hosts in the inter-dimensional cloudsThese angelic hosts, the angels in heaven, living as spirit beings, will be crossing the dimensional veil from the spirit world into our three dimensional physical world.  In the meantime, gentile “saints”, who have become spirit filled, will be raptured back into Light-Beings, akin to Adam in the Garden of Eden.  They will literally become fourth dimensional beings who able to travel in and out of earth time.

 

Yet the “Act” of forever sealing sin to its final demise will not be completed.  The earth must be purified.  The Sefirot of the World of the Divine will finally be anchored unto literal earth.  The earth will be impure and unholy.  The goodness of creation will have been scarred by six thousand years of human depravity and destruction.  The Malkhut, the Kingdom in the Sefirot will have to be made holyWherever the Lord of hosts touches down, that piece of earth will be holy ground. 

 

Remember again Moses and the burning bush.  That earth was holy groundRemember Joshua, standing before the Angel of the Lord.  He had to take off his shoes, for that piece of earth was holy ground.  Remember the burning cloud which resided over the Holy of Holiest in the wilderness sanctuary, and when it moved, the entire camp of Israel movedThat was the most visible example of the energy vortex in the Sefirot of the Divine and how it settled upon the Ark of the Covenant as the Shekinah upon the seat of mercy. 

 

The Children of Jacob will at this time, under the leadership of Yahshua will fulfill their final destiny.  It was the will of HaShem, the God of Israel, to call out a people that were to be known as the Chosen Ones.  This final act of their literal mission will be to repair the damage done to the Sefirot of God at the level of the literal Kingdom upon our planet earth. For a millennium, the chosen ones will under the iron rule of the Messiah learning to live a strict life of Torah living, which will include worshipping in a glorious temple as envisioned by the Prophet Ezekiel

 

When the orthodox Jews, with a life memorizing and living all the oracles and teachings of HaShem, will literally be thrust through a dimensional veil as the lance was thrust into the side of Yahshua hanging on the tree, a wail shall erupt across the land. The realization that their very own Son, the one they did not recognize, the one they dramatized year after year in the spring holy festivals will now be recognized.  He was their son, the firstborn, the heir to the tribe of the bechor (the birthright), the House of Judah, the birthright through the lineage of Jacob and Leah, but also the firstborn, the heir to the tribe of the bechor­ (the birthright) of the House of Joseph through the lineage of Jacob and Rachel. Why did they fail to recognize what is now the obvious?  

 

When Yahshua upon His coming confronts the Jews, they will be restored a spiritual insight that they have had to live a life without faith in their Messiah.  Was it not Rabbi Shaul (Apostle Paul) who stated?

 

Romans 11:7 - “What Israel sought, Israel has not achieved, but the selected few have achieved it. The rest were made blind to the truth, exactly as it stands written: ‘God brought upon them a numbness of spirit; he gave them blind eyes and deaf ears, and so it is still.’”

 

The rejection of their forefathers concerning Yahshua’s messiahship had led to a spiritual crucifixion (numbness of spirit) for them day after dayAs their father David did when confronted with his sin, was overcome with grief and mourning, so also the Jews in last days, will be overwhelmed with grief and repentance.  The collective emotions of the Jewish people will be a powerful symbol of their repentance, in the visible presence of their messiah.  They will recognize that He is really the One who walked and talked with them, teaching them about the Kingdom of Heaven in the courts of the Temple of Herod.  Yet it was because of their lack of faith that they were cut off of the “olive tree” (Romans 11:20), yet when they believe in faith in the last days, “it is in God’s power to graft them in again.” (Romans 11:23)  Paul asked, “Did their failure mean complete downfall?  Far from it! Because they offended, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to stir Israel to emulation.(Romans 11: 11), yet this partial blindness has come upon Israel and will be removed after the Gentiles have been admitted in full strength.  When that happens, the whole of Israel will be saved.”  (Romans 11:26) 

 

Mourning in the Land of Israel

 

Zechariah 12:11 – In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem,

As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

 

Hadad (mighty) – indigenous application of the sun, in which the earthly symbol became the king.  It appeared to be a title like Pharaoh(Genesis 25:15, 36:39 and I Chronicles 1:30,50.

http://blog.bibleplaces.com/uploaded_images/Priestly_blessing_crowds,_tb100906963sr-769598.jpg

Rimmon – a Syrian deity in Damascus with its Temple, the house of Rimmon (2 Kings 5:18). The symbol was a pomegranate. 

 

Jewish Mourning at the Wailing Wall

 

HadadrimmonHere is a compound word of two Syrian deities, Hadad and Rimmon.  We see the sun-pomegranate symbolism, the sun-god of late summer, when the pomegranates ripen, and the intensity of the sun is the fiercest.   Here is the normal interpretation, in the valley of Megiddo, which was part of the plain of Esdraelon, six miles from Mount Carmel and eleven miles from Nazareth, the mourning in Judah over the death of Josiah, when he was mortally wounded in battle with Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II Wehemibre.  This lamentation is mentioned in 2 Chronicles 35:20-25.

 

There is no place called Hadadrimmon or if there is it is nowhere near the valley of Megiddo. Rather this refers to a mourning such as that which occurred on two separate occasions: the mourning of Ahab, son of Omri, who was slain BY HADADRIMMON, the son of Tabrimmon in Ramot Gilead (I Kings 22:36) 

 

The second is the mourning of Josiah who was slain by Pharaoh the lame in the crying withnTorah.smallValley of Megiddon (II Chronicles 35:25) BOTH VERY GREAT MOURNINGS.

 

The Mourning as the Torah is Removed from Its Home in the Synagogue at Gush Katif during the Evacuation of the

Jewish Settlements in 2005

 

Here in the presence of the vast armies of the world, suddenly a great mourning is heard throughout all the land.  The demon possessed warriors, seeking to destroy any living person representing the God of Israel will be quiet in astonishment.  The people in the land of Israel will not be mourning for those who had fallen in battle, or as one who is in grief while being overwhelmed by an oppressor. Their mourning will not be for the fallen, but for the One who has come to save them.

 

Zechariah 12:12 – And the land shall mourn, every family apart;

The family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart;

The family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;

 

Zechariah 12:13 – The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart;

The family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;

 

These two texts seem to elude most scholars.  In verse 12, it describes the mourning that will be present in the royal family of the House of David through the lineage of his son, Nathan. (1 Chronicles 3:5, 14:4; 2 Samuel 5:14) This seems strange as to why so specific?   Of the two lineages that go to Jesus from the House of David, one is from the House of Nathan and the other from his younger brother, King Solomon.  Both were children of Bathsheba, the love of King David’s life, who as his 10th and last wife, he received the rebuke from God through the agency of the prophet Nathan. (2 Samuel 12:1-12)   This lineage as recorded in Luke 3:23-38, depicts the genealogy through the lineage of Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, one of the satraps of Persia. 

 

The mourning would be conducted by the minister of music, from the House of Levi. This would be in recognition of their son, Yahshua which for centuries they had officiated in the services that portrayed and symbolized His life here on earth and as a prophetic portrayal of his coming as the Maschiach ben David, the King of kings and Lord of lords at the time of the end.  Levi, the father of the entire Levitical class of temple priests had three sons, Gershon, Kohath and Merari. (Numbers 3:18)  Of the Gershonite clans, they were descendant from two sons, Libni and Shimei. (Exodus 6:17; Numbers 3:18, 1 Chronicles 6:17, 29; 23:7, 9,10)                                                                             

 

Each family was given a special duty in the preparation and travel arrangements of the sanctuary. The Lord first required a count of the sons of the House of Levi, who were over one month of age. This came to 22,000 Levites. (Numbers 3:39)  Then the Lord required a count of all the first born sons within the whole camp of Israel who were over one month of age.  This count came to 22,273. (Numbers 3:43)  The 273 first-born sons were redeemed by divine permission at 5 shekels per son and this was given to the House of Levi

 

Western Wall stonesNo longer would the Lord require the dedication of the first born, for the Levites would now be dedicated solely to the service of the Lord of hosts.  Of these 22,000 Levites, 8580 were qualified to serve, being over thirty years of age, to serve in their assigned duties in the sanctuary.   For their inheritance, since their land was divided amongst all the other tribes, they were given forty-eight cities (Joshua 21) and a yearly stipend of one-tenth of all the produce of the whole land(Numbers 18:21; Deuteronomy 18:1,2; Nehemiah 10:37)  

 

Mourning for the Loss of the Temples of the Lord at Tisha B’Av – Sacred Destinations

 

Aaron and his sons, were of the House of Levi along with Moses and were assigned as the priests responsible to carry out the duties of the regular priesthood in the temple.  They were responsible for wrapping all the holy furnishings and articles for transport.  The curtain between the Holy and the Most Holy Place was to be placed over the Holy of Holiest, the Ark of the Covenant.  The Table of the Presence (Shewbread) along with its accessories, was covered by a blue drape and then a scarlet drape.  The Menorah, the golden candlestick, with its lamps, trimmers and plates along with the oil, were to be covered with a blue cloth.  The golden altar of incense, was covered with a blue cloth and the bronze altar for the burnt offerings, along with the utensils, firepans, meat forks, shovels and sprinkling bowls were covered with a purple cloth. Each of these holy furnishings were then covered with sea cow skins, as a waterproof covering for transport. (Numbers 4:1-3)

 

The Kohathites, were responsible for the transportation of the holy furnishings and the articles of the sanctuary. (Numbers 4:4-19)  

 

The Merarites and all its clans were responsible to carry the frames of the tabernacle, the posts of the surrounding courtyard and all the ancillary articles for the superstructure of the Tent of Meeting(Numbers 4: 29-33) 

 

The Gershonites were responsible for the transport of the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting its covering and the outer covering of hides of sea cows, the curtain for the entrance, the ropes and the equipment used in its service. They were responsible to Ithamar, son of Aaron, the high priest. (Numbers 4:21-28).  Once within the land, the inheritance of the children of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher and Naphtali, and from part of the tribe of Manasseh that is in Bashan. (1 Chronicles 6:62)

 

http://www.kumah.org/uploaded_images/kever-rachel-736326.jpgUntil the era of King David, these three families were responsible for the care and upkeep of the sanctuary as dictated from the days of Aaron.  When David came into years, he was in the process of turning the empire of Israel over to his son, Solomon.  Once again the Levites were counted.  In the resulting 450 years, the total number of Levites in the land of Israel was now 38,000 men over the age of thirty.  Of these, twenty-four thousand were given charge to supervise the work in the temple of the Lord to be built by Solomon.  Six thousand were to be officials and judges, four thousand as gatekeepers and four thousand as musicians

 

Lamentations in Exile at Tisha B’Av

 

Once again they were divided by their original families of their father Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.  Of the family of Gershon, Shimei had four sons: Jahath and Zuza of which each family was given one assignment.  The next two sons Jeush and Beriah did not have as many male heirs so these two families shared one priestly assignment. 

 

Of the temple musicians, members were selected from each of the three households of Aaron’s sons.  Heman, the son of Kohath, was the main musician of the templeAsaph, from the family of Gershon stood on his right hand and Ethan from the family of Merar stood on the left.  What is of interest is Asaph was of the house of Jahath, the son of Shimei, the son of Gershon, the son of Levi.

 

The family genealogy for Asaph was as such.  Asaph -> Berekiah -> Shimea -> Michael -> Baaseiah -> Malkijah -> Ethni -> Zerah -> Adaiah -> Ethan -> Zimmah -> Shimei -> Jahath -> Gershon -> Levi -> Jacob(1 Chronicles 6:39-43)  What is of interest in the discrepancy in the lineage where Gershon’s son was Jahath and then Shimei was Jahath’s son. (1 Chronicles 6:42-43) while in Numbers 4, Jahath is the son of Shimei. 

 

Asaph, named the “collector of the people”, was the leader of the temple choir nominated by King David. (1 Chronicles 6:39)  Twelve of the Psalms are attributed to this accomplished musician, Psalms 50, and the 73rd to the 83rd Psalms.  There was a school of poets and musical composers founded by Asaph and his fame was not only as a singer, composer, Psalter but also revered as a seer by King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:30) and King Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:15) when they rededicated the Temple of the Solomon at Passover times during their reigns. 

 

When Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, surrounded the city of Jerusalem, keeping her penned like a bird in a cage, Joab, the chronicler of the court of Hezekiah, along with Eliakim, the palace administrator and Shebna the secretary went out to meet the field commander. (2 Kings 18:18, 37; Isaiah 36:3, 22.)  After the Jews had returned from the exile in Babylon, Nehemiah reinstituted the directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God (Nehemiah 12:46.) and Mattaniah, one of Asaph’s  descendants became the conductor of the temple-choir in Zerubbabel’s temple. (1 Chronicles 9:15, Nehemiah 112:17) 

 

When Zechariah was penning these words, Zerubabbel, a type of the messiah and the ancestor to Jesus was the governor of Judah and of the royal family of David, in the lineage from Nathan to YahshuaMattaniah, a descendant of Asaph was the conductor of the temple-choir in the newly built Temple to Yahweh, in Jerusalem, following the footsteps of his ancestors, Asaph in the days of King David and Shimei, grandson of Levi, no doubt minister of music in the wilderness sanctuary. 

 

In the future “Day of the Lord” when the House of Judah and Israel will finally meet their messiah, Moshiach ben David, the Levitical priests will have once again have been sanctified and separated as Kohinans or priests within the Temple of the Lord.  Will this great mourning, the strains of sacred dirges as odes to their grief will proclaim how they treated the son of their God, and now their Maschiach.  These strains will be conducted by a descendant of Asaph, the Psalmist, who was the descendant of Jahath, Simei, Gershon and Levi? 

 

Zechariah 12:14 – All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

 

Here we have a picture of national mourning, headed by the royal House of David and Prince Nathan through their descendant, Persian governor Zerubbabel, and the priestly house of Levi with the leading minister of music, Shimei and his descendant Asaph, in the days of David, and Mattaniah in the days of Zerubabbel. 

 

Go to Zechariah 13

The Gihon River and the Purification of the Land of Israel

 

Topics

The Fountain of Water from the House of the Lord

The Source of the Fountain or River of the Lord

The River Gihon flowing from the Temple recorded in Mishnahs by Shimon HaLevi

The Jewish Holy Sites

The Lord of hosts will destroy the “Idols” (Mosques and Basilicas) of the Christians and Moslems

Three Faiths, One Holy Land

The Christian Holy Sites

The Moslem Holy Sites

Cleansing of the Land of Israel from Idols or Icons and False Prophets

Prophets and Demonic Spirits will flee the Land of Israel

The Prophet ashamed of his Prophecy

The Last Destruction of Israelites in History

The Purified Remnant will now call upon the Name of the Lord (YHVH)

 

Index for the Commentary on the Prophecies of Zechariah

 

The Redemption and Restoration of Jerusalem and Israel

Zechariah 1 - God remembers and God blesses at the Appointed Time

Zechariah 2 – God sets His sights to Rebuild Jerusalem

Zechariah 3 – The Priesthood is Re-consecrated for the Temple

Zechariah 4 – God sends Israel His Anointed Ones and His faithful Eyes

Zechariah 5 – The Flying of the Megillah and the Cleansing of the Land

Zechariah 6 – The Four Chariots, Temple is Built and Israel is a Theocracy

Zechariah 7 – Replace Feasts of Fasting with Obedience, Justice and Mercy

Zechariah 8 – Let us Feast with Joy – God returns to Dwell with His People

 

The Oracles and Judgments of the God of Israel

 Zechariah 9 - Part One – The Burden of the Lord on the Fertile Crescent

Zechariah 9 - Part Two – The God of Israel wants Damascus to be One of His Zions

 Zechariah 9 - Part Three – The Prelude to the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah War – Global News

Zechariah 9 - Part Four The Israeli-Hezbollah War in the Summer 2006

17 Tammuz to the 9th Av 5766 – Global News

 Zechariah 9 - Part Five – The Oracles of HaShem against the Palestinians

Zechariah 10 – Latter Rain - Restoration of the Houses of Judah & Joseph

Zechariah 11 – Part One – The Good Shepherd and the Oracles against Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the Palestinians

Zechariah 11 – Part Two – The Good Shepherd and the Unification of the Houses of Judah and Israel

Zechariah 12:1 – The Creator and the Throne of the God of Israel

Zechariah 12:1 – The Creator, the Worlds of Creation, the Spirit of God, and the Souls of Man

Zechariah 12:1-2 –    Jerusalem, a Cup of Trembling

Zechariah 12:3-14 – Jerusalem, a Burdensome Stone

Zechariah 13 – The Gihon Fountain flows from the Temple of the Lord

Zechariah 14 - I will gather all Nations to battle at Jerusalem
The Lord’s feet will stand on the Mount of Olives

 

Message from BibleSearchers

 

BibleSearchers scans the world for information that has relevance on the time of the end.  It is our prayer that this will allow the believers in the Almighty One of Israel to “watch and be ready”.  Our readiness has nothing to do trying to halt the progression of evil on our planet earth.  In our readiness, we seek to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah of Israel so that goodness and evil will be manifested in its fullest.  Our preparation is a pathway of spiritual readiness for a world of peace.  Our defender is the Lord of hosts. The time of the end suggests that the Eternal One of Israel’s intent is to close out this chapter of earth’s history so that the perpetrators of evil, those that seek power, greed and control, will be eliminated from this planet earth.  The wars of the heavens are being played out on this planet earth and humans will live through it to testify of the might, power, justice and the love of the God of Israel.  In a world of corruption and disinformation, we cannot always know what the historical truth is and who is promoting evil or mis-information.  We cannot guarantee our sources but we will always seek to portray trends that can be validated in the Torah and the testimony of the prophets of the Old and the New Testament.

 

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