Conjunction or Sliver?
There is much debate about whether the new moon is based upon conjunction (no light given) and the sliver, which is when the first hint of a crescent can be spotted in the sky.

The lack of straight-forward details in scripture is how this debate came to be.
Here are a couple of reasons why Tracy and I have settled on conjunction:

Reason #1
How does a time piece work?
When a clock approaches midnight, we have exactly sixty seconds to go once we hit 11:59pm.
We can watch the sweep of the second hand as it moves around the clock face. As it approaches midnight, we can count down…
Four, three, two, one — and then the second hand is exactly on the 12 and it is midnight.  Be sure to enjoy it, because it only lasts for a moment, and then it isn’t midnight anymore…
We can start counting up the seconds of a new day.
One, two, three, four…
And so on.

Genesis 1:14-15 tells us this:
“Then Yehova said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; ¹⁵ and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.”

We are told in scripture that the lights in the firmament will mark the days, and years, and they will mark the seasons. In other words, the sun, moon, and stars are a cosmic timepiece.
And we just discussed how timepieces work. Any point in time lasts only one second, and then it is no longer that point in time.

I believe the moon works the same way.
Over approximately 29.5 days, the moon goes from being full, to  giving no light, to being full again.
One whole cycle.
It is consistent, and has been so throughout recorded history.
How long does a full moon last?  If we know the light increases over time, reaching a maximum full moon, and then begins waning, we can accurately say that a full moon only lasts a moment, just as midnight only lasts for a moment.
That is the way cyclical things work.
In the same manner, a new moon lasts for but a moment. It goes from waning (reducing its light) to new moon for a moment (no light), and then it begins waxing, or gaining light.

We are told that the sliver of the waxing moon is not visible immediately, and could take as many as two or three days to become observable with the naked eye. This would put the moon well past its point of giving no light.
Do we wait until several minutes past midnight before we officially declare it is midnight?
No, we don’t. We know exactly when midnight is…  12:00am is midnight.
12:01 is not midnight.
12:02 is not midnight.
12:03 is not midnight…

So, having made a short story long, my first reason for believing conjunction is because I understand how a timepiece works, and Genesis tells us the heavenly bodies are a timepiece.

Reason #2
I believe this reason is much more compelling…
While it is difficult to see a tiny sliver around the time of a new moon, we have no such difficulty seeing when the moon is full.  A night before the full moon, the visual image of the moon is obviously not a perfect circle.  The same goes for a night after a full moon.  It is quite easy to tell, without any measuring instruments, that we are before or after a full moon.
What does this have to do with the new moon, though?

Leviticus 23:4-6
“These are the appointed feasts of Adonai, holy convocations which you are to proclaim in their appointed season. ⁵ During the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Adonai’s Passover. ⁶ On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Matzot to Adonai. For seven days you are to eat matzah.

We know that half of a lunar cycle is about 14.75 days.
From the time of a new moon (no light), the First Day of Unleavened Bread is to be 15 days later.
The moon should be full for this feast.  If you establish the new moon using conjunction, the moon is ALWAYS full on the First Day of Unleavened Bread.
If you establish the new moon (and therefore the month) by sliver, the moon is always 1 to 3 nights past full.

This hint in scripture tells us that sliver is not correct.

We see the same thing a second time…
Leviticus 23:33-34
Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ³⁴ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, and say, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Sukkot, for seven days to Adonai. 

Once again, based on scientific fact of how long the lunar cycle lasts, the beginning of Sukkot will always have a full moon, if we count our fifteen days from the time of no light.
If we go by sliver, the moon will be past full, therefore, we know we ‘missed’ the new moon.

One could argue that scripture simply says these feast days begin on the 15^th of the month, without being tied to a full moon.
One could argue that if we establish the new moon by sliver, then it makes sense that the moon is past full for the beginning of these two feasts.
I willingly admit this to be the case…

Except for this in Psalm 81:4-5
“Blow the shofar at the New Moon,
at the full moon for the day of our festival.
⁵ For it is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.”

Yes, we are to blow a shofar at new moon.
But Psalm 81 adds “at the full moon for the day of our festival.”

This bit of scripture leads me to believe that those festival days beginning on the fifteenth of the month are on a full moon.
And if this is true, then it requires us to establish the new moon at conjunction and not at sliver.

Reason #3
The feast days are moedim.
Here is Strong’s definition for the moedim:
מוֹעֵד môwʻêd, mo-ade’; or מֹעֵד môʻêd; or (feminine) מוֹעָדָה môwʻâdâh; (2 Chronicles 8:13), from H3259; properly, an appointment, i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand):—appointed (sign, time), (place of, solemn) assembly, congregation, (set, solemn) feast, (appointed, due) season, solemn(-ity), synogogue, (set) time (appointed).

We also see this in Leviticus 23:1-2
hen Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ² “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, and tell them: These are the appointed moadim of Adonai, which you are to proclaim to be holy convocations—My moadim.

The feast days are His.
They are not ours.

If we utilize the heavenly bodies as a time piece, just as Genesis says they are, then His moedim can be calculated in advance.  We will know exactly when His appointed times are.

If we go by sliver, it may be a night, two nights, possibly even three nights before man sees the sliver.  What if the sliver should be visible to us, but there is cloud cover?  This happens sometimes. Could cover prevents the sliver from being seen until the next night, thus changing His appointed times by our inability to see.

Are we to believe that His times, His ‘appointed’ times, are to be established by man?
I do not believe this for one second.
Leviticus 23 does not say His moedim are set by man.
It says these appointed times are His.
We do not get to say when His times are.

My conclusion…
As much as I would like it to, scripture does not tell us exactly how to determine the new moon. It would be much easier if we had Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, and there you go: New Moon.

But we get no clear instructions on how to do it.
For this reason, conjunction/sliver debate will continue.
The reasons I gave above seem clear to me, but they may not seem clear to others. What is quite logical to me may be easily dismissed by others.
When scripture isn’t blatantly clear, my goal is to glean as much information from scripture as I can, and make the best logical decision I can using that information.
Based on what I shared above, I land on conjunction.

Here is the good news, though…
One day, we will be told what is correct.
I don’t know if that will happen when the two witnesses arrive.
Maybe we have to wait until Yeshua returns?
Maybe we’ll know in some other way.
No matter, I will accept truth, even if it is different from what I believe today.
In the meantime, conjunction makes the most sense to me, based on the hints we see in scripture.

What do you think?

 Do you hear His voice?
What if His voice is saying something other than what your pastor teaches?
Then what will you do?
Will you reject Messiah and listen to your pastor, ‘because he’s the expert’?
Or will you set aside the traditions of men and listen to your Messiah?
I’ll help you out.
Here are some direct quotes of your Savior.
Do these words match what your church teaches?

John 14:15
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.”

 John 14:23-24
Yeshua answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 19:16-17
Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” ¹⁷ So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

John 5:45-47
Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Matthew 5:17-19
¹⁷ “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. ¹⁹ Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 8:11-12
And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.¹² But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:41-43 
⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, ⁴² and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Matthew 24:11-12 
¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Revelation 14:12 (revelation of Yeshua, describing the saints)
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
 
Revelation 12:17 (revelation of Yeshua, describing the remnant of the church)
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Yeshua.

Revelation 22:14-15
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Which of these two lists best describes your life?

LIST #1
You are cursed in the city.
You are cursed in the field and gardens.
Your basket (provisions) are not full, and bread does not come easily.
Your children are problematic. They will move away and not help you.
Your efforts do not produce good things.
You experience disease and illness, constantly battling for better health.
Nothing you do helps to get ahead, not even a little bit. 
Your enemies get the best of you.
Your mind is not at ease. 
Your ways are not prosperous. You falter in nearly everything, no matter how hard you try.
Other people take advantage of the things you do have.
Your spouse is not loyal to you. Marriage is an unsuccessful venture and is difficult. 
Animals are not loyal to you, and do not add value to your life.
You are placed under authorities who do not look out for your best interests.
You are driven to anger by the things you see and experience, but you cannot change any of it.
You are not a leader, and are subject to the leadership of others, no matter how hard you try.
You have a trembling heart and a despairing spirit.

LIST #2
You receive blessings in the city.
You receive blessings in the fields and gardens. 
You have children who are honorable and productive in this life.
Your baskets (provisions) are full, and your bread making is productive and good.
Offspring of your livestock will be healthy and your herds will increase.
You are blessed when you come in.
You are blessed when you go out.
Your enemies cannot harm you.
Everything you try to do is successful and productive.
Other people notice that your life is a blessing.
You will be a leader in all that you do.

Which of these two lists do you identify with the most?
Which of these two lists best describes your life?
Would you rather partake of the other list?
How do you change from a life of curses to a life of blessings?

I compiled these two lists by paraphrasing Deuteronomy 28.
God sets before us choices of life and blessings, or death and curses.
He does not choose which list belongs to us. We get to choose for ourselves which list we will live out.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 tells us how to make this choice:
26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commands of ADONAI your God that I am commanding you today, 28 but the curse, if you do not listen to the commands of ADONAI your God, but turn from the way I am commanding you today, to go after other gods you have not known.”

And again in Deuteronomy 30:19 -20
“I call the heavens and the earth to witness about you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 by loving ADONAI your God, listening to His voice, and clinging to Him.”

And I’ll end with the words of our Messiah:
Rev 22:14
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

John 14:21
He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

John 10:27-30
“My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life! They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

John 15:7-11
7 “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. 8 In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”
9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love! 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be full.

Luke 11:28
But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

And a Proverb for good measure:
Proverbs 19:16
He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul,
But he who is careless of his ways will die.

Proverbs 3:1-2
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commands.
For length of days and years of life,
and peace they will add to you.

And what do the prophets think?
Jeremiah 7:23-24
‘Obey My voice and I will be your God to you and you will be My people. Walk in all the ways that I command you that it may go well with you.’ 24 But they did not listen or pay attention. Instead they followed their own counsel, in the stubbornness of their evil heart. They have gone backward and not forward…

Life and the circumstances of life are not random.
Will you choose life or death today?
Will you choose blessing or curse today?

Joshua 24:15
“But as for me and my household, we will worship Adonai!”

OK, the smart alleck in me is seeping out around the seams…
I had to make some memes.

“I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is…”
Forrest Gump, 1994

Narrow path of life, or Broad path of destruction??? 

Do you listen to everything, or just what you want??

[IF WE KNOW HIM, WE WILL HEAR HIS VOICE – ALL OF IT]
John 10:26-28
But you don’t believe, because you are not My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me.

[DO YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, OR DO YOU ONLY LISTEN TO HALF?] — [HAVING FAITH IS ONLY HALF OF THE FOLLOWING]
Revelation 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Did Yeshua come to Abolish?

Matthew 5:17 (Words of Messiah)
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”

Not only is there a difference between the english words of abolish and fulfill, the original text uses the word pleroo for fulfill, which means to fully teach.

1Peter 4:17-18
For the time has come for judgment to begin with the house of God. If judgment begins with us first, what will be the end for those who disobey the Good News of God?
18 Now, “if it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what shall become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

This is not an ‘article’ or ‘blog post’.  These are just some notes and scripture on Shavuot and this week’s Torah portion:

Shavuot!!
Exodus 23:14-17
Three Annual Feasts
14 “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); 16 and the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

Exodus 34:22
22 “And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.

Leviticus 23:15-22
The Feast of Weeks

¹⁵ ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. ¹⁶ Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷ You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord. ¹⁸ And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹ Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. ²⁰ The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹ And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

²² ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’”

Numbers 28:26-31
26 ‘Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. 27 You shall present a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, 28 with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 29 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 30 also one kid of the goats, to make atonement for you. 31 Be sure they are without blemish. You shall present them with their drink offerings, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering.

Deuteronomy 16:9-12
9 “You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the grain. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. 11 You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

Acts 2:1-4
Coming of the Holy Spirit

2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord^[a] in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
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B’midbar ~ means ‘in the wilderness’

The people were taken out of Egypt in the Exodus, and they were taught all about Yehova at Mt Sinai, and they were taught how Yehova intends for us to behave and live. The tabernacle was established.
Now in Numbers, we see how responsibilities are assigned to the tribes.
This is the time when the people will begin to live out the Torah instructions.

Numbers 1 – Census
Num 1:1-4
Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year [14 months] after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ² “Take a census [census means to “lift up the head”] of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, ³ from twenty years old and above—all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. ⁴ And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house.

tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred
tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred
tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty
tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred
tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred
tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred
tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred
tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred
tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred
tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred
tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred
tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred

Total of 603,550 [just men 20 and up and of fighting age]
This census firmly establishes their Hebrew identity in their minds.
Before the Exodus, they were just a mass of people in slavery in Egypt.

Exodus 30 says each in the census shall give half shekel of silver as ransom, and no plague shall be among them. Without the ransom, they may/will be affected by plagues. REV 18:1-4 (describes the Babylonian system).
Verse 4 says to come out of this system, and avoid the plagues. Only one church does not receive of the plagues, the church of Philadelphia. Who are these people?  Rev 7:4-9
People who are able to be counted, their ransom paid, equal the church of Philadelphia (Rev 3:7-13).
Rev 7:9 those who undergo the plagues of tribulation, but turn to Yehova, are those in white robes.

Matthew 17 describes taxes taken during Yeshua’s day.  He says those who are His go free.  Their ransom is paid by His death.

Mat 17:24-27
²⁴ When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?” ²⁵ He said, “Yes.” And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” ²⁶ Peter said to Him, “From strangers.” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. ²⁷ Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money;^[h] take that and give it to them for Me and you.” [Yeshua knows the temple tax to maintain Herod’s temple is not truth, but he supernaturally provides payment – a hint at what is to come, when His death will supernaturally provide the true ransom that must be paid]

Luke 21:25-28
The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁵ “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; ²⁶ men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Yeshua tells them to “lift up their heads” ~ this does not mean to look up to the sky, it means to count yourself, as in a census, to count yourself among Yeshua’s people.
[Some people will count themselves, even though their ransom is not paid. 1John 3 tells us whose ransom is paid – it is those who walk in righteousness.
Those who walk in righteousness (Torah) will have their ransom paid and will be protected.  Those who do not walk in righteousness (Torah) will not have their ransom paid, and will suffer the plagues of tribulation.]

Num 1:45-46
So all who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel— ⁴⁶ all who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

Bur for the Levites:
Num 1:47-53
But the Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe; ⁴⁸ for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying: ⁴⁹ “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel; ⁵⁰ but you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it and camp around the tabernacle. ⁵¹ And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death. ⁵² The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies; ⁵³ but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”

East Side of the Tabernacle:
Tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.  These shall break camp first.

South Side of the Tabernacle:
Tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Gad.  They shall be the second to break camp.

¹⁷ “And the tabernacle of meeting shall move out with the camp of the Levites in the middle of the camps; as they camp, so they shall move out, everyone in his place, by their standards.

West Side of the Tabernacle:
Tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin.  They shall be the third to break camp.

North Side of the Tabernacle:
Tribes of Dan, Asher, Naphtali.  They shall break camp last.

Numbers 3
The Sons of Aaron
Num3:1-4
Now these are the records of Aaron and Moses when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ² And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab, the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³ These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he consecrated to minister as priests. ⁴ Nadab and Abihu had died before the Lord when they offered profane fire before the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.

The Levites shall be given to the Aaron to serve.
Num 3:7
And they shall attend to his needs and the needs of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of meeting, to do the work of the tabernacle.

The Levites belong to Yehova:
Num 3:11-13
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹² “Now behold, I Myself have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites shall be Mine, ¹³ because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the Lord.”

Census of the Levites, all one month old and older:

The families of the Gershonites (numbering 7500) were to camp behind the tabernacle westward.

The families of the children of Kohath (numbering 8600) were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle.

The families of the children of Merari (numbering 6200) were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

Num 3:38-39
38 Moreover those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tabernacle of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons, keeping charge of the sanctuary, to meet the needs of the children of Israel; but the outsider who came near was to be put to death. 39 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, by their families, all the males from a month old and above, were twenty-two thousand.

Num 3:40-41
Then the Lord said to Moses: “Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and above, and take the number of their names. 41 And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the livestock of the children of Israel.”

Num 3:46-47
And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites, 47 you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs. 48 And you shall give the money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons.”

Num 4:1-20
Census and duties of the Sons of Kohath

Hosea 2
Say to your brethren, ‘My people,’^[a]
And to your sisters, ‘Mercy^[b] is shown.’

God’s Unfaithful People

² “Bring charges against your mother, bring charges;
For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband!
Let her put away her harlotries from her sight,
And her adulteries from between her breasts;
³ Lest I strip her naked
And expose her, as in the day she was born,
And make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land,
And slay her with thirst.

⁴ “I will not have mercy on her children,
For they are the children of harlotry.
⁵ For their mother has played the harlot;
She who conceived them has behaved shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen,
My oil and my drink.’

⁶ “Therefore, behold,
I will hedge up your way with thorns,
And wall her in,
So that she cannot find her paths.
⁷ She will chase her lovers,
But not overtake them;
Yes, she will seek them, but not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I will go and return to my first husband,
For then it was better for me than now.’
⁸ For she did not know
That I gave her grain, new wine, and oil,
And multiplied her silver and gold—
Which they prepared for Baal.

⁹ “Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
¹⁰ Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers,
And no one shall deliver her from My hand.
¹¹ I will also cause all her mirth to cease,
Her feast days,
Her New Moons,
Her Sabbaths—
All her appointed feasts.

¹² “And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
Of which she has said,
‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’
So I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field shall eat them.
¹³ I will punish her
For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense.
She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And went after her lovers;
But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.

God’s Mercy on His People

¹⁴ “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak comfort to her.
¹⁵ I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ “And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’^[c]
And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’^[d]
17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
¹⁸ In that day I will make a covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,
To make them lie down safely.

¹⁹ “I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.

²¹ “It shall come to pass in that day
That I will answer,” says the Lord;
“I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
²² The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer Jezreel.^[e]
23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;^[f]
Then I will say to those who were not My people,^[g]
‘You are My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”

Luke 16:1 to Luke 17:10
The Parable of the Unjust Steward

16 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. ² So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’

³ “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. ⁴ I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’

⁵ “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶ And he said, ‘A hundred measures^[a] of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ⁷ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures^[b] of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ⁸ So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.

⁹ “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail,^[c] they may receive you into an everlasting home. ¹⁰ He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. ¹¹ Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? ¹² And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

¹³ “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

The Law, the Prophets, and the Kingdom

¹⁴ Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. ¹⁵ And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

¹⁶ “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.¹⁷ And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.

¹⁸ “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. ²⁰ But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, ²¹ desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell^[d] from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

²⁴ “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

²⁷ “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, ²⁸ for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ ²⁹ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”

Jesus Warns of Offenses

17 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! ² It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.³ Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you,^[a] rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴ And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you,^[b] saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

Faith and Duty

⁵ And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

⁶ So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. ⁷ And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? ⁸ But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹ Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.^[c] 10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”

According to scripture, if we are in covenant with Yehova, our body is no longer our own, but a Temple for the Ruach.
We are told to not defile our temples.
Defilement of our temple can be in the form of sexual immorality, eating unclean foods, gluttony (even with clean foods), addiction/abuse of harmful substances (smoking, alcohol, etc).
As we run the race of sanctification, let’s take stock of our lives and figure out if we are defiling our temples.
Pray on these things…

Revelation 22:14-15
Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

These are the words of our Messiah, our Savior, Yeshua.
While all scripture is true and important, I try to pay particular attention to the things Yeshua said.  Direct quotes of our Messiah are vital, and especially when He is giving a warning.

Do we understand these warnings?
Do we slow down and evaluate them?
The consequences are typically horrific.
With much at stake, do we pass by these warnings, assuming they apply to someone else, but not us?

If we make this mistake, it will be a disaster of epic proportions.
And there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Yes, here I am again, writing about warnings.
Will I ever stop?
Not as long as the Ruach leads me to write. People need to know these things…
Nobody likes warnings.  People seem to like the warm, inviting, loving scriptures (and rightfully so — they are awesome!!).

But let’s dig into this one.
I get the fact that sorcerers and the immoral will not have the right to the tree of life, and will not be welcome into the city of New Jerusalem (heaven on earth – see Rev 21).
But what is this ambiguous statement about those who love and practice a lie??
What in the world? I used to be confused by this, and I’d just skip it.

We are warned throughout scripture of false teaching.
Deuteronomy 13 and 18 give us the criteria to test for a false prophet. And the warnings continue…
Ezekiel and Jeremiah warn us.
2Peter 3:15-16 is a HUGE warning.
“…as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, ¹⁶ as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;”

2Timothy 4:2-5 tells us where we end up:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ⁵ But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

If we are to believe scripture (and I do), the warning that Timothy gives is real.  We should be able to see this problem all around us, and we do.
If scripture is to be believed, the warning Peter gave is true and valid. It shows us that Paul’s writings (as well as the scriptures – Torah and Tanakh at that time) were already being twisted into false doctrine.
Men who were alive with Yeshua observed the twisting of scripture almost immediately.  How sad is that?

So, what is it to believe and practice a lie?
If we fall prey to the false teaching that is rampant in the world, then this warning applies to us.  We have the truth available to us.  We have scriptures available to us.  We carry the truth in and out of church, week after week, year after year, decade after decade, all while believing the lies of false teaching.

Yehova promises His understanding of scripture to us, if we just ask for it in faith.

James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Falling prey to false teaching will not be a valid excuse on the day of judgement.
We will not be able to defend ourselves with “Well, my pastor said…”

Why not? Because we have the truth in our very hands.  And we have the promise of Yehova that we’ll be able to understand it.

1John 2:24-27
²⁴ Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.
²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

In Matthew 7 Yeshua (Jesus) tells people “Depart from me, I never knew you.”

How is it possible that billions of Christians can read this horrific warning and dismiss it without even thinking about it???
How can billions of Christians think, “Wow, that sucks for someone else, but not me…”?

Really??? Something as significant as the Messiah rejecting you, and saying He never knew you?
Why would He not know you? Because you are a worker of lawlessness.

Here is the full passage:
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

But the law was done away with. We are no longer under the law.

SAYS WHO???
Not Yeshua (Jesus), our Messiah.
He says those who do not keep the law are not welcome in His kingdom.

BUT MY PASTOR, and many generations of pastors, have said so, that the law is done away with.

WHO WILL YOU BELIEVE????
Your Messiah, or your pastor?

Who has the authority to make these decisions?
Matthew 28:18
And Yeshua (Jesus) came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

Did you catch that? ALL authority. Not some of it… ALL OF IT.
If Yeshua has ALL authority, how much is left over for your pastor to have?

That’s right. NONE.
Your pastor has NO authority.
Pastors proclaim they have authority, based upon a paper hanging on the wall in their office.
A paper they paid many thousands of dollars for.
But does it give them any authority?
Not according to Messiah.

And yet, with absolutely no authority, pastors and priests and ministers and popes and bishops and deacons (and whatever else you want to call them) go out into the world, with NO AUTHORITY, and proclaim that the law is done away with.

Your Messiah, your Savior, the Son of the Living God, says that is a big load of dung (I’m paraphrasing, of course).
Direct quotes of your Messiah say otherwise, and He has ALL OF THE AUTHORITY.

Here is one of HIS quotes:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

AND ANOTHER:
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.”

AND ANOTHER:
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”

AND ANOTHER (from the beginning of this study):
“Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”

I could go on and on…
And I have not even started quoting the Father yet.

Who will you believe?
Your Messiah, or your pastor?

Your pastor is selling death.
Your pastor is selling ‘gnashing of teeth’
Your pastor is claiming to have authority to defy what Messiah says over and over again.

Do you believe the lies of your pastor, whether intentional or accidental?
Does Messiah say anything about believing a lie?

AGAIN, A DIRECT QUOTE OF MESSIAH:
Revelation 22:15 describing those who are not welcome in the Kingdom:
But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Did you catch that last part?
ANYONE WHO LOVES AND PRACTICES A LIE

Are you loving and practicing a lie?
Are you in violation of the warning Peter gave us?
It is important to answer these questions using scripture.
My prayers go out to all who need wisdom and understanding (myself included!!).