Footsteps of Messiah
Night After Night, Torahfying
In last week’s newsletter (you can pull up past newsletters for reference here), we examined Isaiah’s prophecy in couplets:
“The pronouncement concerning Edom:
One keeps calling to me from Seir,
‘Watchman, how far gone is the night?
Watchman, how far gone is the night?’
The watchman says, ‘Morning comes but also night.
If you would inquire, inquire;
Come back again.’” (Is 21:11-12)
The third couplet urges the inquirer to ask twice, or “come back again.” Return from the second exile, the long exile of The Red One, Edom of Seir.
In a layer of Jewish understanding about King Messiah’s hiding place, Isaiah implies that not only are those in exile calling, anxious for the night of exile to end, so is Messiah, who has been tying and untying the bandages of the sick outside the gates of Rome, anxiously awaiting the Father’s appointed time for his return, to “come back again.” The midrash is not to be taken literally, but illustratively.
So why the “bandage” analogy?
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“If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to afear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.” (Dt 28:58–59)
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“Surely our griefs [sicknesses, choli] He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way...” (Is 53:4–6).
The midrash demonstrates how the hidden Shepherd Messiah will be one who takes the sicknesses of disobedience upon himself at the gates of “Rome,” where he hides. To the First Century Jews who were looking for a Messiah to deliver them from the beast empire of Rome, this was not the most appealing version of Messiah! Just as today we want to claim all the prosperity of Kingdom promises, few want to claim the suffering and sorrow that precedes it.
Likewise, we rarely want to live obediently in such a manner that we would make straight the paths in the latter-times “wilderness of the peoples” for Messiah to return. Messiah needed to be hidden away for the era in which his disciples would go to “the twelve tribes scattered abroad” (Ja 1:1) and those to be grafted in. As an olah offering like Isaac, who never left the Land of Israel once consecrated on Mount Moriah, Yeshua did not leave the Land of Israel once he was offered up. He went "up," and he drew mankind to himself. Yeshua sent his disciples to the “unclean,” or those afflicted, but waiting for salvation and to be sanctified in the Word.
Yeshua’s hiddenness is explain in Kol HaTor, which breaks down the Hebrew equivalence of expression between “hidden, secret” and “north.” Kol HaTorah references Psalm 48:3: “Mount Zion on the sides of the north,” commenting,
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“For it is fairest of sites, joy of the whole earth, a description similar to what was said about Yosef. According to the Midrash (Tanchuma), everything that happened to Yosef happened to Zion. For Mashiach ben Yosef is in the North according to the Midrash. In the same Psalm is the verse: walk around Zion and encircle her, count her towers, etc. (v. 13), which refers to the five circles of holiness around Jerusalem. What is hidden is good” or “the North is good” -- according to the verse (Psalm 31:20) “how abundant is your goodness that you have hidden away” or “...that you have placed in the North.”
Messiah is “good,” and therefore, in the north, or hidden. Just as the real, good treasures of our inheritance in the Kingdom are hidden away, so Yeshua, who is goodness (tov), is hidden from sight. North and hidden are both translations of tzafon. The play between the two definitions provides the reasoning for Yeshua’s abode in the North, or hidden place. He is the hidden treasure of salvation, yet not hidden at all to those who seek him, or “inquire,” as Isaiah says. If you would inquire, inquire. Come back again, Yeshua. Just as the days of creation were pronounced tov (good) or tov meod (very good), so Yeshua, the Word of Creation brings forth life from dark, hidden places.
This psalm further elaborates on the sages’ insight into hidden and north:
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13 For I have heard the slander of many, terror is on every side; while they took counsel together against me, they schemed to take away my life. But as for me, I trust in You, LORD, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. Make Your face shine upon Your servant; save me in Your faithfulness. Let me not be put to shame, LORD, for I call upon You; let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol. Let the lying lips be speechless, which speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt. How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You have performed for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of mankind! You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of mankind; You keep them secretly in a shelter [sukkah] from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD, for He has shown His marvelous faithfulness to me in a besieged city. (Psalm 31:13-21)
The above is the Psalm passage associated with where Messiah is hidden, in the “secret,” or “north,” tzafon. He is saving from death because of Adonai’s “great goodness” [tov]. Israel is secreted in the secret of the sukkah, safe from the conspiracies of mankind and the strife of tongues. Assemble in Jerusalem at the feasts, and although besieged, He is faithful to protect you from the terrifying tribulation of lips...
- “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne, and great authority.
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I saw one of his heads as if it had been fatally wounded, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” A mouth was given to him speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle*, that is, those who dwell in heaven. (Re 13:1-6)
The Hebrew cognates to Greek *skaynay are ohel, mishkan, sukkah. The Tabernacle was also called the Ohel Moed, or Tent of Meeting and the Mishkan. They are covered places, sukkot.
The night is the night of exiles. The first night was the night of Babylonian exile. The second night is the night of the Roman exile, where we tie and untie bandages with Yeshua in our affliction, awaiting the Father’s command. Right now, with Yeshua, we bear the sicknesses and sorrows of the world as well, bandaging and healing with prayer.
- Song of Songs 3:1
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“On my bed night after night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him but did not find him. I must arise now and go around in the city; in the streets and in the public squares I must seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him but did not find him. The watchmen who make the rounds [ha-sovevim] in the city found me, and I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’ Hardly had I left them when I found him whom my soul loves; I held on to him and would not let him go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, and into the room of her who conceived me.”
The bed is considered a sickbed. Although beloved Israel has a relationship with her Messiah, nevertheless, she seeks his intimate Presence in vain. When at last she arises from her sickbed to seek him, to inquire of the night watchmen, she finds her Beloved Messiah. The key is that the watchmen are the sovevim, those who “circle” the Holy City in the night of exile. They know the night watches because their hearing is tuned in the darkness of exile.
They “circle,” that is, they know the appointed times of the Ohel Moed, the Secret Sukkah, and the moedim. Once Israel encounters those who know the feasts, she finds her Beloved Messiah. She takes him to the chamber of the one who conceived her, and never lets him go. “The room of her who conceived me” is symbolic of the Mishkan, Tabernacle, Ohel Moed, Tent of Meeting, the Sukkah of the Clouds of Glory in the Wilderness. There she is hidden from the strife of tongues and conspiracies. The one who conceived may be traced to her Messiah Yeshua, who was conceived of the Ruach HaKodesh. The Presence of Adonai abode upon Israel in the wilderness, her secret place.
Then the Watchman of Times appears:
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For this is what the Lord says to me: “Go, station the lookout, have him report what he sees. When he sees a column of chariots, horsemen in pairs, a train of donkeys, a train of camels, he is to pay close attention, very close attention.” Then the lookout called, “Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, and I am stationed every night at my guard post. Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.” (Is 21:3-9)
These may be the historical horses of Medo-Persia, who attacked “in pairs” [one archer, one who held the reins of the archer’s horse], or as two smaller empires joined together, but they do come with judgment for Babylon the Great, perhaps offering the future telescopic view:
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The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like human faces. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt people for five months.” (Re 9:7-10)
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For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. (Re 9:19)
These frightening scorpion-horse-serpent-lion hellbugs have no power over obedient Israel in her secret sukkah. The following midrash describes the fiery encampment of the Israelites when the pillar of fire would settle down, fiery rivers of water gushed out of the Rock and its streams encircled the tribal encampments, and the smoke of the altar never went out because it was supernaturally powered. It was smoking even when it was covered for carrying!
- 3§5 Footnote 172 “For the cloud of HASHEM would be on the Tabernacle by day, and fire would be on it by night.” (Ex 40:38)
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“And the nations of the world would witness all this and exclaim, ‘These Israelites are angelic. The service of these creatures is only with fire.’ And from the frightfulness of Israel in the Wilderness, terror and trembling would befall the other nations. It is this idea that is written in the verse, ‘Fear and terror will befall them,’ (Ex 15:16)- ‘befell’ (past tense) is not written here; rather, ‘will befall’ (future tense) is written, which indicates that the terror and trembling is from now and onward.”
Obedient Israelites are Torahfying! This description of the “two witnesses” below sounds very much like the Midrash’s description of how the Mishkan settled down:
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“And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.” (Re 11:5)
The Midrash Rabbah to Shir 3:5 describes why the nations marveled at the Israelite camp in the wilderness: “When Israel was roaming from encampment to encampment in the Wilderness, the Pillar of Cloud would sink in the evening and then the Pillar of Fire would spring up, and the smoke of the burning pyre atop the Outer Altar would rise straight up, unaffected by the wind, and two darts of fire would issue from between the two staves of the Ark and incinerate the snakes, fiery serpents, and scorpions before the Israelites. [from Ex 40:38]
Ark – Torah – Two Fires of Witness
This does not mean that the two witnesses of Revelation are specifically these two wilderness witnesses, but it certainly adds comfort symbolically. The fires of Torah will actually prepare a place for the Israelites to encamp under the Clouds of Glory! All this while the serpents-scorpion bugs of Abaddon torment the wicked!
The Midrash detailed how the Israelites were seen as “ministers of fire,” mistaken for celestial beings in the wilderness by the nations who looked on. Only later does Rahab make them aware of how terrifying...and Torahfying...they are. We have no idea how Torahfying Lamp the Word is to the darkness in the world.
If the two fiery darts that destroyed the serpents and scorpions in the wilderness protected those under the Clouds of Glory/Sukkot of Glory, then there is no reason to believe that they will not do the same when the bugs of Abaddon attack in John’s Revelation. Abaddon means to be lost, desolate. Israelites may look like they’re lost in the wilderness, but the opposite is true. They are hidden in the secret place of the Most High’s Sukkah. Yeshua went to prepare the place.
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And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Ac 1:9–11)
Yeshua went to prepare a place for us in the Clouds of Glory. What is hidden is good! The two “men in white clothing” sound awfully familiar, yet without the fiery swords. Those who are obedient are no longer sick, and they no longer need to be kept from their inheritance in the Garden.
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“Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.” (Ge 2:10–12)
The rivers of Eden “savav,” or circled the Eden of Good Gold, just as the sovevim, or circling watchmen of Jerusalem, know the end of the exile by knowing the moedim. They know Him Whom their souls love. "And you shall LOVE the LORD your God with all your heart, your soul, and strength.
Wilderness campers know that soon Israel and her companions will ascend to the Land of Good Gold where the onyx stone is. The onyx stones were shoulder pieces of the high priest inscribed with the the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The bdellium was the appearace of the manna in the wilderness, perfect food from a perfect Garden of Eden above. A safe place. A concealed place. A good place. After the night.
If you would inquire, inquire.
Come back to the moedim of Adonai. Be Torahfying!
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