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Torah Scroll   A Torah Scroll

 

God sends Israel His Anointed Ones and His Watchful Eyes

The Prophet Zechariah’s Prophecies on the “Time of the End” for the

Redemption and Restoration of Jerusalem and Israel

Translation by the New King James Version

Biblical Commentary by Robert D. Mock MD

robertmock@biblesearchers.com

February 2002

Reedited and Graphics August 2005 and July 2008 

 “Zechariah 5

 

Topics

The Flying Megillah Scroll

The Lead Container with the Evil Fire Offering

The Nuclear Judgment of God

 Shinar, the Great City of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel

The Land of Shinar in the Region of Mount Hermon

 

The Flying Megillah Scroll

 

Zechariah 5:1 – Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll.

 

Another vision is now revealed to the Prophet Zechariah.  This is the sixth in the series of visions.  Here Zechariah now sees a flying scroll.  Middle East imagery is definitely different than modern thinking.  One can almost imagine the Arabian Nights with the flying carpet. In as much as a curse was pronounced by this flying leather scroll, we must make the assumption that writing was on it, on both sides of the scroll.

 

Was it flying like an Arabian carpet and then you had to read by looking up as it flew over?  Then it flipped over and flew back over your head so you could read the other side.  Maybe it flew like the modern banner hung behind a small airplane and hoisted across the sky for all to read.  Either way, two sides and two messages were involved. 

 

When you look at a scroll in the Hebrew, one thinks of the Torah Scrolls that are a part of every Jewish Synagogue.  This larger scroll is composed of two cylinders in which the leather parchment is wrapped around each.  This is called the Megillat, or a leather parchment rolled unto two cylinders.  The standard King James Version had a better translation, Roll”.  Here Zechariah was seeing a ‘roll’ flying through the air, 2500 years before air transportation was invented.  What was this roll?  Looking at the Hebrew it is called a megillah, (Strong’s 4040) coming from the Chaldean word meaning ‘roll’.  Here was a single roll, not the traditional dual rolled Torah, in which a smaller parchment manuscript was scrolled up.  The most famous of the megillahs is the Megillah of Esther, the life of the famed Jewish Persian queen, who was married to Xerses the Great (Ahasuerus) 486-465 BCE, the son of Darius I (Hystaspes) the Great.  These were the parents of Artaxerses I, the emperor of Persia, (465-423 BCE), who himself a Jew, for his mother, Esther was a Jewess, was responsible for insuring the second return of the Jews to Jerusalem under Ezra the Scribe in 458 BCE and the third return of the Jews to Jerusalem under Nehemiah in 444 BCE.

 

Zechariah 5:2 – And he said to me, “What do you see?” 

So I answered, “I see a flying scroll (roll), its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.”

 

To make sure that Zechariah was truly seeing this object in the heavens, the angel, who has been his guide and interpreter, makes sure that what is registering in Zechariah’s brain is the true image to be seen.  Here it suggests that the mind of man is as impenetrable as the Unknowing God (En Sof) until man reveals what he has seen. 

 

The Torah Scroll at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem – Photo by Robert Mock

 

A scroll was a common item in the life of Zechariah.  Every Shabbat (Sabbath), the Hebrews would read from a Torah Scroll, megillot, and no doubt, because we have the Book of Zechariah, he was writing what was being revealed to him on a smaller rolled up parchment scroll called a megillah.

 

But this megillah or roll was big, very bigFrom the time of Solomon in the Land of Israel, the national unit of measurement was the “Royal Egyptian cubit” which is 29.63 British (or American) inches. Archeologists have excavated the gates of the cities of Gezer and Beth-Horon, both of which measure to the unit measure of 29.63 inches or the Royal Egyptian cubit.  This is also the same measurement, called the ‘Sacred Cubit’ that was used to build the Great Pyramid of GizaIt is written that Flavius Josephus recorded that Enoch built an underground temple of nine vaults, one above another, in which were places tablets of gold.  Methuselah, his son, assisted in this building project by erecting the brick walls. Was this temple part of the Giza temple structures?

 

The dimensions of this Megillah, 20 by 10 cubits in breadth, would have made this flying roll more like a flying soup can or about 17 by 34 feet.  This was an unusual dimension for a megillah or rollIf it was unfurled out like an open parchment, it was more like the size of a large carpet, a Middle Eastern Oriental rug.  These dimensions were also the dimensions of the Holy Place in the Tabernacle of the God (Exodus 26:1) and were also the dimension of the Porch of Solomon (1 Kings 6:3)  Does this dimension tie this message to the Temple of God? 

 

Michael Rood on the other hand suggested that this 10 cubit width was actually the circumference of the roll, such as is recorded the 12 cubit circumference of the brazen pillars in front of the Temple of SolomonSo, if we curl the parchment into a tube, then we now have the dimensions, albeit of a rather large megillah scrollThen the 10 cubit, or 17 foot circumference were have a width of 5.5 feet.  What then is the size of this roll?  This was a flying scroll or a rolled up scroll that looked like a “tube” that Zechariah saw in the air and it was 34.5 feet long and 5.5 feet in diameter. 

 

Zechariah 5:3 – Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth. 

‘Every thief shall be expelled,’ according to this side of the scroll; and,

‘Every perjurer shall be expelled,’ according to that side of it.”

 

http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/images/exhibitions/osvitku/01.gifIt would appear that both sides of the giant single scroll was engraved with writing which pronounced a curse, not just upon the Land of Israel, not just to the land of Babylon, but “out over the face of the whole earth. Yet, let us not be too hasty. 

 

The Torah Scroll at the Jewish Museum at Prague

 Robert Guttmann Gallery

 

The word for earth, Eretz (Strong’s 776) applies not just to the whole earth, but usually and in particularly a land. In this context, it would be the Land of Israel.  This flying megillah or roll, known as a curse, will head straight for the Land of Israel.  Israel will feel the wrath of God’s judgment first.  Will this dual staged missile then head toward other countries in the world?  Their judgment will be one of cleansing, to rid the lands of the thieves and perjurers.

 

Let us take a quick review of chapters one thru four in Zechariah to get a sense of where we are going

 

Chapter 1 - Open invitation for Israel to return to God and God will not only remember Israel, but will bless IsraelPart two of the chapter centers on God’s concern for Jerusalem.

Chapter 2 - The boundaries of Jerusalem will again be measured in preparation of preparing something special for the Lord.

            Chapter 3 - The Priesthood is now re-consecrated.

            Chapter 4 - The Holy Spirit is now promised to the leadership in Jerusalem.

Chapter 5 - The Thieves and Liars are not only cursed but are also expelled from Jerusalem, but it will be by a flying vehicle in the form of a giant 34.5 x 5.5 foot  megillah scroll. 

Chapter 6 - The horse-chariot agents from the Lord will provide help in the anointing of Joshua (Yahshua), called The Branch”, as the priest-king, who will be responsible to build the Temple of the Lord.

 

What is the major trend in the meaning of the Book of Zechariah:  the restoration of the Land of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  To make such preparation, the people in the land must be behind the restoration and the building of the temple.  Lip service will not do.  Their hearts, minds and souls must there.  If you are not a part of the eschatological rebirth of God’s land at the time of the end, don’t hang around. If you do, some strange things are going to happen.

 

Let us assume that in the preparation at the time of the end, a true revival and preparation in the Land of Israel is made to consecrate the Priesthood, the Temple foundation will be laid, and the city of modern Jerusalem will be outlined as to where the purification process with the ashes of the Red Heifer will concentrate.

 

Let us now assume that a call is sent out throughout the world to support the preparation for the return and the rebuilding of the Temple. With so much money involved, bribery, governmental graft and institutional theft will assume to be rampant.  The money lenders, the international bankers, the international brokers of political power in the UN will all want a part of this pot.  This call will be for all religions to participate in a city of Peace where all can worship to the God of their choosing; the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the triune God of Orthodox Christianity, and Allah, the deity of Islam

 

In any way, this flying Megillah scroll will have writing on it that must have been unusually large or the curse by the flying roll must have implied a significant meaning.  Does this signify the magnitude of the curse that was being placed? 

 

Of the two curses, the thief is usually recognized as an offender against man, (eighth commandment in the Decalogue – Exodus. 20:15) and the perjurer, or swearing falsely (third commandment – Exodus 20:4) as an offense against God. 

 

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00BZ7Ag5ya30y/610x.jpgMatthew 5:33-37 - “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.  But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven for it is God’s throne, or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the Great King. (Psalms 48:2)  And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.  Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No.’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.   


Ultra Orthodox Jews dancing with the Torah Scroll when the New Torah was Inaugurated at the

Synagogue at the Tomb of Reb Nachman of Breslov in the Ukrainian city of Uman on 21st September 2006

 

More and more we are seeing people, who proclaim that they are agents of God.  They produce large followings of people who usually are following the charismatic leaders not the Person, which this leader purports to represent.  They are leaders following their own selfish desires, producing TV programs, radio broadcasts and large church institutions for their own glory. Many will even speak for the Lord and invoke that they received their messages direct from the Lord in vision or in dreams.  These that swear falsely by the name of God will find literal and spiritual destruction.  The hopes of millions of evangelical Christians who are pinning their hopes on the restoration of Israel and their rapture before this event will spiritually collapse. 

 

For the “spiritual Israelite”, these words must be sobering words.  They may seek to deny that the Hebrews will be involved at all in the time of the end, yet see a literal and progressive role of Israel and Jerusalem as becoming the threshing floor for sorting out the good and evil in the world. Some ‘spiritual Israelites’ consider themselves as being literal Israelites, and as such, beware.  To speak falsely against the children of Israel also speaks falsely against the God of Israel.  As such, they may come under the wrath of the Lord. 

 

But what about thievery against Hashem?   We do know that thievery is not only against man but also against God.  See the injunctions against the non-tithers who had sworn in God’s name to pay their vows(Numbers 30:2, Psalms 76:11; 116:18,19.) and then failed to keep their vows.  But many also seek to steal the Name of the Lord.  Many act as though they are god. Others act as though they are the special agents of God.  Most seek to control their image of God to one they can manipulate and control. 

 

Yet, the cosmic battle between good and evil, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness is all centered around the Holy Name of God.  Is God just, loving and merciful, or is He a vindictive, hateful and revenging God?  Once again, it can be said, the life you live is a reflection of the God you serve.  Our lives are a testimony of the God we are serving.  If we, by our lives, portray God unjustly or deny to God that as He says, He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then we will find our homes destroyed.

 

Many public commentators have spoken on the destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the paradigm and spiritual loss in the lives of all Americans.  These two towers were the symbol of the economic power that we felt made America great.  They also represented to many in the world community, symbols of the materialistic greed and control (“Sin of the Golden Calf”) the American way of life has asserted herself over the world community of nations.   

 

Can you imagine the horrors of Christian America, when they witness the Land of Israel coming under nuclear attack?  The icons of their spiritual identity will collapse.  Confusion will reign throughout the religious community of churches.  All churches have a vested interest in their spiritual piece of the Land of Israel.  Some claim it to be their own, that the Jews must become converts to Christianity.  Others will claim that the Jews have right to progress to their dreams of a millennial kingdom, but by this time, we, the spiritual saints will be raptured to another dimension.  But why are we still here?  Are we lost?

 

Some Christians, who think that they are “literal humans that are Spiritual Israelites”, will grieve, why was I not included?  Others will feel crushing remorse, like the realization that a friend who, instead of you, was in a vehicle blown up by a terrorist.  A literal nuclear attack against Israel will have an unprecedented cataclysmic spiritual impact on Christians around the world.  

 

Zechariah 5:4 – “I will send out the curse,: says the Lord of Hosts;

“It shall enter the house of the thief

And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name.

It shall remain in the midst of his house

And consume it, with its timber and stones.”

 

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/92/75492-004.jpgThe Torah Scroll of Heichal Schlomo, the former seat of Israel’s chief Rabbinate

 

When a curse falls upon a person, life falls apart. Business fails, family and friends reject you, and everything seems to have an omenThe Deuteronomy 28 blessing and curses over and over affect billions and billions in the world, yet most do not consider nor accept that God is Sovereign and playing a direct role in their lives.  We many times see the spiritual implications of the curse, but fail to recognize the literal or physical dimensions.  A true literal translation will imply that this twin nuclear warhead will wipe out and consume the home, the timbers and stone from within its midst.  Will this house be the city of Jerusalem?  Will fallout contaminate the land around the Temple Mount? 

 

At the time of the end, Hashem (“The Name”), as the Lord of hosts, will set out to purify the landThe whole earth, we exclaim?  No, the Land of Israel must be purified to prepare itself for the coming of the Holy One.  That moment of purification will come at the appointed time of the God of Israel.

 

When will this happen, do we ask?  Well, in this verse, it is still in the future, for the Lord of host states, “I will send”, or “It shall enter” or “It shall remain.” This cursed flying scroll will invade the inner sanctum of the homes of the thieves and liars. It will assume supernatural proportions in that the sinners will have no escape.  This curse would enter the house of the liar and the perjurer and dwell within to haunt the inhabitants in every aspect of their lives.  When its purpose is accomplished, the occupants including the in entire structural habitation will be destroyed. 

 

Are we saying the House of Judah is a house like a thief and one who swears falsely by HaShem’s name?  The Nation of Israel is recognized to be a secular nationThe cry throughout the earth is against the oppression of Israel against the Palestinian.  Yet the Lord of hosts states that “this land is My land.” If the inhabitants of the land do not walk after their own God, then will the Lord of hosts eliminate them from that land?

 

The Lead Container with the Evil Fire Offering

 

Zechariah 5:5 - Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me,

“Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth,”

 

Once again, Zechariah is urged by the Angel, who is his guardian messenger, to look up and again witness the divine mission of the Almighty God.  Is this not how God always deals with us?  Look up!  Look up!  Continue reaching up to God.

 

Zechariah 5:6 – So I asked, “What is it?”

And he said, “It is a basket that is going forth.”

He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth:

 

http://ncartmuseum.org/artnc/pictures/artifact/medium/69.jpgThe KJV states, “This is an ephah that goeth forth. In as much as an “ephah” in Hebrew (Strong’s 374) is a dry measure of about 5 gallons used as a grain measure.  It appears to be symbolic of a measuring basket that is filled with the contents, which is stated to be a woman.  Is this a container or an object to measure?   A container carrying something is a literal translation.  An object to measure its contents is the spiritual translation. 

 

The Megillah Scroll of Esther

19th century Galician or Ukrainian in Origin

 

The angel messenger continues, this is what this object resembles.  In Hebrew, “resemblance comes from the word ayin, (Strong’s 5871) which literally and figuratively means eye”.  Yet if one letter were to be changed, it would come from the word, avon or avin, (Strong’s 5771) meaning iniquity, fault, mischief, punishment of iniquity or sin. This latter translation is found in the Septuagint and adopted by the RSV. So we have the translation: This is their resemblance throughout the earth, in contrast to “This is their iniquity throughout the earth.” 

 

So now we look to see what is this basket or ephod, which is the flying Megillah scroll.

 

Zechariah 5:7-8 – Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”,

Then he said, “This is Wickedness!”

And he thrust her down into the basket, and he threw the lead cover over its mouth.

 

This is a strange sightIn the traditional translation, we visualize a prison in which the opening at the top is weighted with a leaden disc (“talent” or “round disc” lead (Heb. kikker) in the KJV) to prevent the escape of a woman inside.  The woman, always a woman.  In the scriptures, the woman represents Israel, the New Testament church, or the apostate church, the Harlot, yet it is always a woman in distinction to her lover and courtier, God.  Here, something appears to be wrong.

 

The Hebrew word, ishshah, or nashiym (Strong’s 802), both mean a woman in its rightful sense, legitimate and a non-adulteress. On the other hand, in ancient Hebrew, there were no vowels, so with one change of the vowel, the same word could also mean, eshshah, (Strong’s 800) meaning the feminine form of fireUsing the same spelling, “ishshah”, (Strong’s 801) in a ritual sense, this same word is used as a burnt offering or a sacrifice of fire. Therefore the same word, ishshah can mean woman or a burnt offering, a sacrifice of fire.

 

Let us develop this idea a little more.  Here the woman, which actually means a sacrifice of fire is personified as “wickedness” or evilSo what we have in reality is an “evil fire offering’ which is enclosed by a lead barrier at the opening and secured inside the 35 foot container (basket) which looked like a Megillah roll.  

Scroll of Esther 

Let’s now look at the translation by Messianic Rabbi Michael Rood.

 

18th century Persian Megillah Scroll of the Book of Esther – Jewish Museum in New York City

 

Zechariah 5: 7-8 – “Then I saw a mass of lead and a fire offering, as it was lifted up and secured in the container.  And he said, “This fire that you see being put in the container, is an evil fire offering.” Then he secured the fire offering in the container and put the lead mass in the opening.” 

 

Michael Rood, a messianic rabbi made this commentary about the flying Megillah scroll:

 

Michael Rood - “The container in which this mass of lead and fire offering is placed is 34.3 feet long and 5.5 feet in diameter.  It flies. It will completely consume the homes of the disobedient in the land of Israel – including all of the wood and the stones.  This fire offering is evil and it is encased in leadThat, my friends, is a missile with a nuclear warhead poised to strike the land of IsraelSwallow hard.

 

 “Non-critical masses of U-235 uranium or other fissionable materials are encased in lead to protect friendly personnel from contamination before detonation.  When the warhead is activated, a controlled explosion propels the non-critical masses together to reach critical mass.  That creates the evil fire that produces a holocaust – a burnt offering of everything in the path of the fireball.  Moments later, the vacuum left from the departing fireball sucks the smoke and debris back into the void, and a pillar of fire and smoke shoots up into the stratosphere, darkening the sun, moon, and stars. (See ‘The Mystery of Iniquity’ by Michael John Rood; appendix VI - Modern Warfare Technology in the Book of Revelation:  Bridge-Logos publishers) 

 

Here the word wickedness is a general word, which also encompasses the moral, religious and secular or civil evil that remains in the Land of Israel.  With the return of the Jews in the time of Zechariah, many of the returnee Jews did not have their hearts aligned with the will of God (Hashem).  So today, even after 1948, with the return of the Jews from all the lands of the world, a large secular segment of Jewish society do not adhere to any form of halakhah, or Torah observance, and some are ardent haters of Israel.  This whole evil system, whether secular Zionism, reformed Judaism, or the world banking and commercial systems in which Jewish control is so prominent, is set to be destroyed or cast out of the Land of Israel.  (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8)  This land is set to be purged and cleansed of wickedness and evil.”

 

The Nuclear Judgment of God

 

Zechariah 5:9 – Then I raised my eyes and looked,

and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings;

http://biblesearchers.com/prophecy/zechariah/zech5_files/image002.jpgfor they had wings like the wings of a stork,

and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.

 

Indian and Pakistani Missiles

 

Again we appeal to a translation that could describe a modern geo-political event during the time of the end.  Here we see two evil fire offerings (nuclear warheads) who had wings of fire like the wings of a stork.  The winds of the fire propulsion system was in their wings as they lifted off the ground and the missile that looked like a single rolled up Megillah scroll lifted up into the heavens. 

 

Are we looking again at another description of a nuclear powered missile?  This time Zechariah had to look up into the sky and watch a flying aerial space object.  There was not just one fire (woman), as seen in the ephod, but two, like a twin propulsion engines or a two staged rocket ship.  These two fires were lifted up in a tube like structure that looked like a single rolled Megillah scroll topped with a container that looked like an ephod or basket. Like the wings of a stork with the power of a mighty wind, this aerial missile became airborne.  

 

Zechariah 5:9 -  “Then I looked up and saw as two fires came out of the container,

And the fires caused the wind to lift the container by its ‘stork like’ wings, from the earth into the sky.”

 

As Rabbi Rood explains,

 

Rabbi Michael Rood - “Zechariah saw two fires come out of the container that propelled the missile into the sky.  A two stage nuclear missile is a very common bird among the nuclear arsenals of the world. India’s nuclear missile is a two stage device (two fires) that is named ‘Agni’ which in Hindi means ‘fire’

 

The missile that Zechariah was watching has short wings that resemble the wings of a stork.  Every missile on the face of the earth has that same feature...

 

Jewish scientists created each of the three varieties of nuclear warheads on this planet.  In fact, it was the lineage of Levi that developed this modern ‘fire offering’ technology.  If you don’t have the Levites up on the Temple Mount doing sacrifices, they get into all sorts of weird stuff. They are going to do a fire offering - one way or another.” 

 

As the testimony of the Torah teaches:

 

Genesis 49:5 - “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.”



Zechariah 5:10-11 – So I said to the angel who talked with me, 

“Where are they carrying the basket (container)?”

 And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shiner;

When it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”

 

It was in the 80’s when Saddam Hussein built in Iraq a production plant designed to build nuclear warheads.  Knowing the purpose for these nuclear warheads, Israel entirely destroyed the plant by a swift pre-emptive strike. The United Nations and the United States as usual protested because Israel had taken the law of the nations into her own hands and outside the realm of the developing New World Order.   Iraq was in a dilemma.  Any nuclear production facility within range of the Israeli bombers would be destroyed.  It was not long afterwards that a report went out that Iraqi nuclear scientists had “defected” to Pakistan along with secret production funds from Iraq.  Soon Pakistan announced their first nuclear warhead.  Let us look at these Pakistani warheads.

 

Scientific American magazine recently posted a feature article: India, Pakistan, and the Bomb.  On page 81 a nuclear missile comparison was made between the Indian and Pakistani’s nuclear warheads.  Nearby was a man standing to give a comparison of size.  The missile, Ghauri, named after a 12th century Afghan king, appears to be about 35 feet tall and about five and a half feet in diameter, with a range of 1500 km and a 700 kg warhead load. The missiles that Iraqi technology and money helped to produce are the same dimensions as the missile that Zechariah saw by revelation nearly 2,500 years ago. 

 

Zechariah 5:11 – And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shiner;

                         when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”                        

 

“To Establish a Base for it, and Set it up in the Land of Shinar.”

 

 

Many archeologists and Biblical scholars consider that the land of Shinar is the ancient land of Babylon and the present nation of Iraq.  This may be true in part, but in the ancient world before there were imperial borders, the ancient land of Shinar included the entire Mesopotamian valley along both the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers.  This was the Fertile Crescent and the ancient land of fallen man’s first civilization

 

Shinar, the Great City of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel

 

It was out of Shinar that came the empire of Nimrod whose capital was near modern day Nineveh nearer the mountainous sources of these two great river systems.  It was the land of Akkadians and the Sumerian empire near the Persian Gulf. It was initially thought before the Gulf War against Iraq that the missiles could have already been planted in this ancient land of Shinar in the land of Iraq. 

 

Iran’s Artillery Rocket – Katyusha Rocketshttp://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/ORD_Iran-Hezbollah_Rockets_lg.jpg

 

This was not to be the final home of the Pakistani missiles that were supposed to have been created with Iraqi scientists and Iraqi money.  Yet we watch today as the country of Iran, under the ever increasing militancy of the Shi’ite Ayatollahs and the Presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are confronting the world with the demand that they will not only become a nuclear state but one that will be accepted by the nations of the world and a member of the world nuclear club. Who is the most hated ‘enemy’ of Iran?  Israel?  The judgment of Zechariah five is yet to be fulfilled.

 

While the west was looking for weapons of mass destruction after the Second Gulf War of 2003, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan confessed, in January 2004, that he had been involved in a clandestine international network of nuclear weapons technology proliferation.  This network extended from Pakistan to Libya, and from North Korea to IranHe was pardoned by the President of Pakistan General Pervez Mesharraf and the prime source material on his investigation was never known.  Yet, was the Land of Shinar limited to the regions of Iraq in the land of ancient Babylon? 

 

It was in 2006, when the Hezbollah - Israeli War erupted that with the Rome Accord, led to the Rome allied NATO UNIFIL troops being embedded into the land of Lebanon. 

 

Eight times in the TaNaKh (Old Testament), the name of Shinar occurs in the sacred script.  Nimrod was the great grandson, third in descent from the Patriarch Noah.  It was Nimrod the hunter who created the first great civilization, of which his four mighty cities included Babel and Accad. 

 

Genesis 10:8,10“Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth…And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calney, in the land of Shinar.”

 

According to the historical story of the ancient Book of Jasher, Nimrod the hunter gained his great strength because he was able to get possession of the “garments” of Adam, given by God to him in the Garden of Eden that were first given to Enoch, then Methuselah, then Noah, stolen by Ham, given to Cush and finally given to his favorite son, Nimrod. 

 

Book of Jasher 7:24 – “And the garments of skin which God made for Adam and his wife, when they went out of the garden, were given to Cush…And Cush also concealed them from his sons and brothers, and when Cush had begotten Nimrod, he gave him those garments through his love for him..and Nimrod became strong when he put on the garments, and God gave him might and strength, and he was a mighty hunter in the earth…”

 

It was the Nimrodian Culture that created the first one world orderone language, one law, and one civilized culture. It was within this culture the epic tale of the Tower of Babel unfolds; man’s defiance against the God of the Universes. One important fact must be noted in the comparative text of the Torah and the Book of Jasher.  The land where the Tower was built was to the east of the land of Shinar in which they were dwelling. Yet in the Torah, they moved to the west where they had journeyed from the east, yet in the Book of Jasher, the Tower of Babel was built to the eastern regions of Shinar, in a valley east of their city, yet to the west of their prior ancestral homelands. 

 

Sargon II BustGenesis 11:1-2“Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.  And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens…”

 

The 12 inch Bronze Bust of Sargon I of Akkade (2467-2412 BCE), the founder of the Akkadian Dynasty and the First King of Accad in the Land of Shinar was found in the City of Nineveh and recognized as one  of the Ancient Rulers of Antiquity. Was Sargon I, the Nimrod of Old, the Builder of the Tower of Babel?

 

Yet, the ancient Book of Jasher expanded the historical picture. We learn that the imperial and universal government of Nimrod extended also over to the land of Canaan.  There in a valley to the east of the land of Shinar, they build the Tower of Babel.

 

Book of Jasher 9:20-21 – “The king Nimrod reigned securely, and all the earth was under his control, and all the earth was of one tongue and words of union.  And all the princes of Nimrod and his great men took counsel together; Phut, Mitzraim, Cush, and Canaan with their families, and they said to each other, “Come let us build ourselves a city and in it a strong tower, and its top reaching heaven. And we will make ourselves famed, so that we may reign upon the whole world…”

 

http://www.hooper-home.net/TEMPLE/LandOfShinar.gifThe great empire of Nimrod was contiguous with the birth of the great Patriarch Abraham, whose life and story has been retold in the BibleSearcher’s article, Abraham, the son of a Oracle Priest.”   It was Abraham’s father, Terah, who became the prince of all the military hosts of Nimrod. He ruled Nimrod’s kingdom, but ancient history and archeology suggest that Ur of the Chaldeas, was not Babylon in Iraq, but to the north in the lands of Assyria called Urartu in the land called Khaldini.   Here near south of the landing site of Noah’s Ark, the Land of Shiner made its rootsHere was the land where Terah served as an oracle high priest for the Nimrod’s Empire as reported in BibleSearchers:

 

The Land of Shinar along the Fertile Crescent

 

BibleSearchers Reflections – “Terah as noted earlier resided in Harran, and was the oracle high priest of the temple of Harran. The blueprint of this temple of Harran was copied after the divine city of NippurTell Harran, recognized as a typical tell in the Mesopotamian Valley, located eighteen kilometers from the modern Syrian border therefore became the focal center of the  Abram story, the area of his roots, in the land of the People of the Ram from the House of Terah.”

 

The story of Abraham’s birth was set in the auspicious moment of his birth party when a celestial explosion shot across the heavens, an oracular event that Nimrod’s counselors warned of omens that Abraham would someday destroy NimrodThe king Nimrod, sought to buy Abram from his father, Terah, in order to kill himThe threat to Abram’s life, led his mother to flee and hide him for ten years in a cave, and eventually went to live with his 8th great grandfather, Noah (10th generation) and Noah’s son, ShemAccording to the ancient histories, Abram returned to the land of his father, and there revolted against the 12 oracular images in his father’s temple, where his brother Nahor was killed in the fiery inferno of the sacred temple edifice.  Later, Abram came in direct conflict again with the Emperor Nimrod, where he was thrown into the fiery furnace with his brother, HarranAbraham lived and his brother was killed. This set the stage for the exodus of Abram and his father Terah and their entire family from Ur Casdim in Khaldini.   

 

At the time of Nimrod’s great imperial rule, his power was significantly weakened because of the catastrophe that befell this mighty Tower of Babel, the symbol of the power and great authority like the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were the symbol of the power and great authority of the United States. At this time, Nimrod’s subjects began to call him by a new name, Amraphel, for with its fall, his invincible appearance of global rule and authority had been broken.

 

Book of Jasher 11:6 – “And Nimrod dwelt in Babel (at his palace near the Tower of Babel)and he there renewed his reign over the rest of this subjects, and he reigned securely, and the subjects and  princes of Nimrod called his name Amraphel, saying that at the tower his princes and men fell through his means.”

 

In the 10th year of Abram’s life, now living in the land of Canaan, according to the Book of Jasher, Nimrod went to war with one of his noble princes, Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam.  In the resultant battle Nimrod’s forces had a devastating loss.  He fled, and became a subject to his former ally and subject from the kingdom of Elam.

 

Book of Jasher 13:12, 15-16 - “And in the tenth year of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan there was war between Nimrod king of Shinar and Chedorlaomer king of Elam…and Nimrod and his people were smitten before the people of Chedorlaomer…and Mardon, the king‘s son fell amongst them. And Nimrod fled and returned in shame and disgrace to his land…”

 

Here we set the stage for the final chapter when Abraham went to war against the five kings who invaded the Vail of Sittim and captured his nephew, Lot and their family in Sodom.  With his few hundred servants, Abraham destroyed this large military alliance that had devastated the entire civilized culture living in the Vale of Siddim, especially the home of Lot and his family living in Sodom, nearby to Gomorrah.  Without the knowledge of Nimrod’s name changed to Amraphel, the biblical text in the Torah would not have been understood. The birth omen of Abram that appeared as a threat to the throne of Nimrod came to its complete fulfillment.

 

Genesis 14:1-3“And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel (Nimrod) king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, that they made war with Beera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shanab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar)  All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is , the Salt Sea). 

 

At the time of the end, it will be within the land of Shinar that the God of Israel will recover his chosen ones.  Why was the land of Babylon not named in this text?  Today, all the Jewish people have fled from Iraq. The land of former Babylon, the home of thousands of years of exile of many of the Jewish people, has now been depleted of the presence of God’s holy ones of Israel.  The curse of Babylon has come to its full fulfillment as the social culture in Iraq continues to spiral down in chaos and eventually spiritual darkness.

 

Isaiah 11:11“It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush, from Elam and Shinar, from Hamath and the Islands of the Sea.”

 

It was in the Land of Shinar that King Nebuchadnezzar carried the treasures of the Temple of Solomon.  This has always been thought to have been taken to the city of Babylon.  It may not have been so, for it was at Riblah, thirty five miles northeast of Baalbec and just north of Damascus that Nebuchadnezzar had his military headquarters.  It was also at nearby Harran that King Nebuchadnezzar had done archeological restoration and his son-in-law, King Nabonidus later went to do later restoration at the sacred temple of Harran, the duplicate temple model as the divine temple in the ancient city of Nippur.

 

Daniel 12:1“And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.

 

Where is the Land of Shinar?  For four thousand years, it has been believed that the Land of Shiner was near the Tigris and the Euphrates in Babylon.  This may not be necessarily so! 

 

Zechariah 5:11And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shiner; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”   

 

The Land of Shinar in the Region of Mount Hermon

 

It was in July, 2006 that BibleSearchers posted the article titled, The God of Israel wants Damascus to be One of His Zions.  In the subtopic within this article, “Mount Hermon as the “First Zion and the “Gateway to Heaven”, we learn of the relationship of the Land of Shinar or Senir attached to the ancient city of Damascus and its holy mount called Mount Hermon.  Let us read:

 

BibleSearchers Reflections“It is of interest that the majestic Mount Hermon was actually called the world’s first “Mount Zion.”

 

Moses was now dead and Joshua had assumed command of the children of Israel as they were preparing to enter their “Promised Land.”  There in the valley opposite Beth Peor, Joshua repeated the statutes and judgments of the Lord that were given to them on the mount called Sinai.  Then the children of Israel began their military campaign. 

 

Let us remind ourselves that in the days of the http://biblesearchers.com/prophecy/zechariah/zech9-2_files/image008.jpgchildren of Israel, neither Moses nor Joshua sought the world opinion to conquer the lands surrounding the “Promised Land.”

 

Mount Zion which is Mount Hermon in Syria, Lebanon and Israel

 

The Israelites did not have UN Observers that were collecting evidence to prosecute them before the World Court at the Hague in order to charge them as criminals of the world’s military laws.  There were no CNN reporters giving eyewitness accounts of women and children kept hostage in buildings so that Joshua and the Israelites could be accused of ruthlessly killing women and children

 

We can assume that the ancient military warriors, with the exception of the Amalekites, had a code of ethics that they did not fight their battles surrounded and imbedded in homes filled with women, children and the agedNeither did Israel look to a higher national power such as the United States for permission to conquer the kings of Sidon, Bashan and the Amorites.  They entered the “Promised Land” with the permission of only one Source: the Almighty One of Israel.  

 

Their first military possessions gained were on the other side (east) of the Jordan River as they conquered the land of Sihon and the king at Heshbon, the land of Og the king of Bashan, and the two kings of the Amorites.  The Israelite chronicler for Moses describing the extent of this land identified for the first time the “first Mount Zion.” 

 

Deuteronomy 4:48 – “And they took possession of his land…who were on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon even to Mount Zion; which is Hermon.” (called “Sion” in Christian interpretations)

 

To the citizens of the city of Damascus, the mount of Hermon was regarded to them as holy and sanctified.  As Ernest Martin explained: 

 

Earnest Martin – “We now come to Mount Hermon. Damascus also had a "high place" as its own "holy place" and it was a legitimate "holy mount." The people of Damascus had their own "holy mountain." It was the highest of the mountains from the Euphrates in the north all the way south to Egypt and down to the center part of the Sinai Peninsula. That mountain was "Mount Hermon." It was the greatest of the sacred mountains of the Middle East. It was considered the most holy mountain of the early Hittites, of all the Gentiles of Palestine and even by the Greeks and Romans (see Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol.5, p.876). Even in the Greek and Roman periods Mount Hermon’s sanctity was recognized as the central worship of all the Gods of the world (no matter who they were).

  

http://blog.bibleplaces.com/uploaded_images/Mount_Hermon,_tb020506116-763764.JPGLook at this fact. At the bottom of Mount Hermon on the southwest side was a place called Panias by the Greeks after the time of Alexander the Great (it is the modern day, Banias) which was Caesarea Philippi in New Testament times.

 

Mount Hermon - BiblePlaces

 

This place was a very ecumenical "holy place" that was devoted "to ALL the Gods of the whole world" (NOT simply to the single "God" of any particular nation). Indeed, the word "Panias" at the foot of Mount Hermon in Greek meant that the place was devoted as a divine sanctuary to "All the Gods." On the northeast section of this "divine mountain" was the principal city of the area. That city was Damascus whose people in ancient times looked directly toward their Mount Hermon as the center place of their religious beliefs (and, not only that, this very mountain was believed to be in the eyes of most early peoples on earth as being the most important of all mountains in the world).”

 

Even to the ancients, Mount Hermon was known as a land of an even greater antiquity. We find in the sixth chapter of the Book of Enoch, it spoke of that day in antiquity in which the Watchers from Heaven were sent by God to this earth to instruct the children of Adam in the ways of divine civilizationWhat is of interest is that the Book of Enoch accounted as one of the most numerous of the manuscripts fragments that were found in the caves at QumranIf we do consider that Khirbat Qumran (ruins of Qumran) was occupied by the secret ultra-orthodox sect of the Essenes, then we must also reconsider that the Book of Enoch was revered as part of the sacred scriptures to the Jewish Essenes.

 

Book of Enoch 6:1, 6 – “And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters.  And the angels, the children of heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ’Come let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children…” And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it.”

 

Book of Jasher V, 1 – “And it happened , when the sons of the children of men commenced to increase over the face of the whole earth and daughters were born to them, that the angels of the Lord saw them in one year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon. And they took unto themselves wives from all of them whomever they chose, and they bore them sons, and these were giants.”

 

Mount Hermon, to the ancients, was called the “Gateway to Heaven.” Here the reports of antiquity claim divine emissaries as inter-dimensional beings could be seen moving from one dimension to another.  It we take their testimony literally, they could see beings, that they called angels or “Watchers”, appear out of nowhere and disappear as though they were walking through a “star-gate.”  Here on this mount called Hermon these “Watchers” entered the environment of this planet earth and then returned back to the heavens

 

Even before the time of the Tower of Babel in the Land of Shinar (Genesis 11:1-9) the “Sons of God” (Genesis 6) came down to this earth and in their union with the daughters of men procreated the “Giants” or “Titans” of oldThe testimony about Mount of Hermon as the “First Zion” was known from the days of the antediluvians (before the flood of Noah) in the days of the Patriarch Enoch.  

  

When the Tower of Babel was destroyed, Mount Hermon, according to Martin, became the most holy place on earth.  The citizens in the Middle East considered Mount Hermon as a Bethel,” a house of God.  They also considered Mount Hermon as “Zion,” a favorite dwelling place of the Most High God.

 

As Deuteronomy continues in its summary, the ancient Israelites harkened back to the days of Babel when Moses, writing Deuteronomy, stated that the ancients called Herman by a name more ancient than that known to the children of Israel; Sirion and Senir.  Here we find a linguistic variation of “Shinar:”

 

Deuteronomy 3:8-9 (parts) – “And at that time we took the land ….from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon, (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.”

 

The Biblical historians and archeologists have long thought that the Land of Shinar was in the land of the Euphrates River, in the region of the current Nations of Iraq and Iran.  Maybe we must reconsider again where the Land of Shinar was.  If the “Land of Hadrach” is the Land of the Fertile Crescent, then Damascus and Mount Hermon would be considered a part of the “Land of Shinar.”  

 

As the geopolitical world is swirling in the Middle East, the biblical text may seem misleading for with the ancient land of Babylon now in the control of modern Babylon, the Golden Internationale, do we now look to the east in Persia as the source of the nuclear threat to Israel, or do we look to the gateway into the Land of Israel in the former land of Canaan, that once was a part of the ancient Empire of NimrodHere at the largest mountain in the Middle East, Mount Hermon, we find the ancient “Stargate where the Watchers, written about in the ancient texts of the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jasher, and the Book of Jubilees, that came down from heaven from other universal cultures.  They were sent to this planet to teach Adam’s descendants the laws of God’s civilization, and in turn rebelled against God, intermingled with the “daughters of man” and introduced the Satanic seed of modern imperial rebellion against the Most High. From the context of our research, we would have to suggest, that Damascus, the capital of modern Syria, a part of Nimrod’s kingdom in the Land of Shinar, could be the site where the threat of nuclear devastation may have its origin.

 

For those commentators who suggest that wickedness will be destroyed need to reconsider.  Wickedness will not be destroyed until it is thrown into the Lake of Fire at the end of the millennium.  For thousands of years, evil has been allowed to co-mingle with its counterpart, righteousness, in the Land of Israel.  As such, the Land has been contaminated and rendered unfit or ‘not holy’.  This is one reason why the God of Israel does not dwell within the land in the Shekinah glory like He did in the days of Solomon.  The Land of Israel will be purged of evil in anticipation of God returning to dwell with His people.  Only after purging evil from the land, cleansing the land from all impurities, could the Promised Land again be called the “Holy Land.” (Zechariah 2:12)

 

Throughout all scriptures, God (Hashem) has called and chosen the Land of Israel and Jerusalem as the land of His inheritance.  Satan (HaSatan), on the other hand has chosen his earthly capital, Babylon, which was later referred to as literal Pergamum in Turkey by the era of the New Testament writers, especially John the Revelator, when the Babylonian priesthood escaped there after the Persian destruction of the Land of Babylon.  These Babylonian priests later moved and established their seat of authority in the Vatican in the Italian city of Rome 

 

image002

Zechariah Five (translated by Rabbi Michael Rood)

 

  1. Zechariah, looked up and saw a flying scroll in the sky.
  2. And the angel that was showing me these things said, “What do you see?” 

I answered, “I see a flying scroll; 34.3 feet long, and 5.5 feet in diameter.”

  1. Then he said, “This is the curse that will afflict the entire land of Israel. 

Every one that steals and every one that swears falsely by my name will be destroyed by it.

  1. And I will bring it forth, says YHWH T’zavaot. 

This flying scroll that you see, will completely consume the timbers and stones of the house of the thief,

and he that swears falsely by my Name.”

  1. Then the angel said, “Look up and see what this flying scroll is.”
  2. And I responded, “What is it?” And he said, “This is a container that flies.”

He said, “Furthermore, this is their appearance throughout the whole earth.”

  1. Then I saw a mass of lead and a fire offering, as it was lifted up and secured in the container.
  2. And he said, “The fire that you see being put in the container, is an evil fire offering.”

Then he secured the fire offering in the container and put the lead mass in the opening.

  1. Then I looked up and saw as two fires come out of the container, and

the fires caused the wind to lift the container by its “stork like” wings, from the earth into the sky.

  1. Then I asked the angel, “Where are they taking the container?”
  2. And he said, “To establish a base for it, and set it up in the land of Shinar (Euphrates and Mesopotamia region).”

  

Go to Chapter Six -

The Four Chariots go out to a World at Peace –

The Temple is Build and Israel becomes a Theocracy

  

Topics

The Four Horses and Chariots

The Four Horses and Chariots as the Four Spirits of God

The Four Spirits as the Four Cherubim below the Throne of God

The Four Horses and Chariots as the Four Seals of Revelation

The Horses and Chariots find the World at Rest or Peace

Israel becomes a Theocracy – The High Priest is Crowned as Priest-King

 Behold the Man, ‘The Branch’

The Branch will build the Temple of the Lord and rule as a Priest-King

The Crown and the Guardians of the Crown

The People’s of the World will build the Temple

 

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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