Oct 14, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
Today, observant Jews conduct a ceremony for their firstborn sons, called the Pidyon HaBen (Redemption of the Son), based on Numbers 18:15-18. Rabbis can explain why five shekels were selected as the redemption amount (v. 16). Joseph, Rachel’s firstborn son, was sold by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, the equivalent of five shekels (see Gen. 37:28). Therefore, five shekels are given to the priest to redeem the son back. The fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Hei, and was the letter God inserted into Abram’s name, changing it to Abraham (see Gen. 17:5). In Christian theology the number five represents the grace of God.
The Jewish custom of the redemption of the firstborn son begins when the infant is at least thirty-one days old. God wanted all men in Israel to be a nation of priests (see Exod. 19:6). After Israel sinned with the golden calf, God selects Levi as the single priestly tribe. By providing the five shekels to the priest, the father could redeem his first- born son from entering the priesthood. It also reminds the Jews that God preserved the firstborn sons of the Hebrew family on the night the destroying angel entered Egypt (see Exod. 12).
The Silver Tray, Jewelry, and Coins
Normally, ten men are present for the ceremony. The priest (rabbi) asks the father if he would prefer the child or the five shekels he must pay. The father says, “the child,” recites a blessing, and gives the silver coins to the priest. Holding the coins over the infant, the priest declares the redemption is paid. He blesses the child, then returns him to the parents. He usually returns the coins to the child as a gift. A festive meal follows the ceremony, sometimes including the distribution of sugar cubes and garlic cloves.
At times the child is placed on a blanket on a silver tray and surrounded by jewelry borrowed from women in attendance. This could allude to the time when the Hebrews left Egypt and borrowed jewelry from their Egyptian neighbors (see Exod. 12:35-36).
Girls are not excluded from experiencing their own naming ceremony, called Zeved HaBat among the Sephardic Jews and Simchat Bat among the Ashkenazi sect. These ceremonies often occur within the first month of a girl’s birth and can be celebrated privately in the synagogue or at a party at home. A rabbi and a cantor often participate.
The various Jewish traditions and customs involving children are too numerous to elaborate. However, some customs include lighting seven candles—representing the seven days of creation—while the infant is held or wrapped in the four corners of a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl). Other customs involve lifting the baby and touching its hands to the Torah Scroll. These detailed rituals stem from the command to redeem the firstborn found in Numbers 18.
From Page 298 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Oct 14, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
The Significance of the Colors in the Tabernacle
Three main colors were used in the fabric of the tabernacle. The first color, blue, is mentioned thirty-four times in Exodus and represents the color of heaven. It alludes to how the Son of God would descend from heaven and dwell (tabernacle) among men (see John 1:14).
The second color is purple. The dye for this color is believed to have come from a small snail (the Murex). This color is mentioned twenty-six times in Exodus and is a color alluding to royalty. It speaks of the fact that Christ has come, not only in the flesh to dwell among men, but that He is also the future King of kings, or a combination of a priest and king after the order of Melchizedek (see Rev. 19:16; Heb. 7:17).
The third color is scarlet, also known as crimson. Crimson comes from the Persian word kermes, meaning “worm.” The scarlet dye is believed to have come from a worm that affixes itself to certain plants. These worms would have been collected, dried, and crushed into a powder that produced the colored dye needed for the scarlet curtains. This color speaks of Christ’s sufferings. During Christ’s trial, a scarlet robe was placed over His shoulders in a mocking gesture (see Matt. 27:28). Scarlet-colored strips of wool were also used to mark the two goats on the Day of Atonement, and a scarlet thread was placed in the window of Rahab’s house at Jericho as a token (sign) of divine protection for her household (see Josh. 2:18). Isaiah wrote, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18).
If the dye for the scarlet color came from a worm, and scarlet represents Christ’s suffering, how interesting that in Psalm 22, which predicts several events that occurred at the crucifixion of Christ, we read, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people” (Ps. 22:6).
Gold, Silver, and Brass
The gold, silver, and jewels used in the tabernacle came from the precious metals and jewelry the Israelites seized from the Egyptians prior to their departure from Egypt (see Exod. 12:35-36). Gold was used to cover the Ark, the golden altar, and the table of showbread. Gold was also used to construct the candlestick (the menorah) and to make certain shovels and smaller vessels. The silver came from silver half-shekels collected from the Hebrews and was used to form the sockets for the tabernacle planks (see Exod. 38:26). An annual half-shekel of silver was collected to fund the purchase of communal offerings for the tabernacle, and optional gifts of silver were used to make silver vessels.
From Page 161 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Oct 13, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
Jeremiah predicted a “time of Jacob’s trouble” for Israel (Jer. 30:7). Many scholars believe this term alludes to the seven-year Tribulation referred to as “Daniel’s last seven years (called Daniel’s seventieth week) in Daniel 9:27. Jacob works for seven years and when he finishes, his father-in-law deceives him and forces him to marry Leah instead of his beloved Rachel. Laban instructs Jacob to “fulfill Rachel’s week” (Gen. 29:27). The Hebrew word for week is shabuwa, and is literally a week of years, not days. This word is found four times: in Genesis 29:27 and 28, and twice in Daniel 9:27. The word week in Daniel 9:27 is a prediction of a seven-year covenant that the future Antichrist will sign.
Jacob’s trouble is actually two periods of seven years. He works the first seven years only to be deceived by Laban. He works seven more years and receives the wife of his choice. Some rabbis believe that the Jewish holocaust, from 1938 to 1945—a period of seven years—was the fulfillment of Jacob’s trouble. However, there were two “sevens” in Jacob’s life. If the Holocaust is the “first” seven, the future seven-year Tribulation will be the second and final seven years of Jacob’s (Israel’s) time of trouble.
After the second seven-year period, Jacob receives Rachel as his wife and later returns to the Promised Land. He reveals himself to Esau and sees his father, Isaac. Following the future seven-year Tribulation, Christ the Messiah will return to Israel and reveal Himself as the suffering Messiah to the sons of Esau and the sons of Isaac (see Zech. 13:6).
From Page 50 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Oct 13, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
The complaining Israelites soon expressed dissatisfaction with the manna God had provided to feed them; instead they desired the six foods they had eaten in Egypt (v. 5). In response, God sent a strong wind and dropped a massive amount of quail near the camp (v. 31).
The amount of quail that fell is staggering. Quail lay about three feet deep (two cubits) all around the camp, and a person would have to have traveled a full day’s journey in any direction to reach the end of the birds. Some rabbis believe the quail became so tired from resisting the wind that they struggled low to the ground, making an easy catch. The people spent at least thirty-six hours collecting the quail. The least a person gathered was “ten homers,” an amount equivalent to 249 liters, or sixty-six gallons (v. 32).
The people began eating the quail and a plague struck the camp (v. 33). This plague may have come because the people were unable to properly prepare and store the quail in a hot, desert setting. After all, how can one person eat sixty-six gallons of fresh quail? Numerous people died, and the area was called Kibroth-hattaavah, meaning the “graves of lust.”
Skeptics believe that this story of God providing this amount of quail is simply an embellished myth. However, even in Israel today a huge migration of quail occurs during the spring season, bringing the birds into the southern Sinai in an area of the Wadi Abu Gada, the headwaters of Wadi Gharandal. Millions of various birds migrate through the Sinai twice a year on their way to Africa and Europe. In modern Israel, quail appear around February at the Gulf of Aqaba and in the Arabah, south of the Dead Sea. The quail often migrate in the dark and hide from predators during the day. This may be why the Israelites sometimes collected the birds at night (v. 32). We are told the birds came from the sea (v. 31), which agrees with witnesses who say migrating quail cross the Gulf of Suez and arrive on the western shore of the Sinai.
From Page 286 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Oct 13, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
The people give the largest offering ever received at one time to provide for the building of the tabernacle, a dwelling place for God:
1. Bracelets, earrings, rings, and gold jewelry are freely given (v. 22).
2. Skins from goats, rams, and badgers are given, along with offerings of colored linen and cloth (v. 23).
3. Silver, brass, and shittim wood are freely provided (v. 24).
4. The women spin blue, purple, and scarlet linen (v. 25).
5. The wealthy rulers bring gemstones for the breastplate (v. 27).
6. Others provide spices and oil for the light, the anointing oil, and the incense (v. 28).
This offering should be a spiritual example showing us that all believers can give something for the work of the ministry. No gift is too large or too small. Large quantities of gold are required for the sacred furniture, but simple linen also is necessary to clothe the priests. Thus, both types of gifts are needed and of great importance. This is the only offering where the minister finally said, “Stop giving, we have more than enough” (see Exod. 36:5-6).
From Page 187 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Oct 12, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
Abram (later Abraham) is told his seed will leave Egypt after 400 years (see Gen. 15:13). Yet, here we read it was 430 years, which is also mentioned in the New Testament (see Acts 7:6). Why is there a thirty-year difference in these two accounts? This list may explain the difference:
Abram (Abraham) is seventy-five years of age when God tells him to depart for the Promised Land (see Gen. 12:4).
Abraham is one hundred years old when the promised seed, Isaac, is born (see Gen. 21:5). The time from age seventy-five to age one hundred is twenty-five years.
Abraham eventually removes Ishmael (at about age fifteen) when Isaac is weaned (see Gen. 21:8-21).
If the prophetic count starts from the giving of the “promise” to Abram when he is seventy-five and continues to the Exodus, the total time is about 430 years. If the count begins with Isaac is being weaned, it becomes about 400 years until the time of Israel’s departure from Egypt.
From Page 145 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Oct 12, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
How can people bind God’s Word on their hands, put it as a memorial between their eyes, and write it on the gates and doorposts of their houses (see Exod. 13:9; Deut. 6:8, 9)? From these commandments, several Jewish customs emerged. The first was the creation of a Tefillin, also called a phylactery, or a small, square black box with a long, flowing leather strap. The box contains four compartments with four Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21, Exodus 13:1-10, and Exodus 13:11-16. These verses are writ- ten by a scribe on a small kosher parchment with a special black ink.
The Tefillin have two boxes, each attached to the black leather straps: one is attached around the bicep about heart level and the other is attached above the forehead, but not lower than the hairline. The straps then wind around the fingers and around the arm. Two blessings are repeated as the Tefillin are placed on the bicep and the forehead. Most young Jewish men begin wearing the Tefillin just prior to their thirteenth birthday.
During the time of Christ, Torah-observant Jews wore phylacteries. Jesus, being Jewish and being raised in the synagogue, would have worn the phylactery. However, He rebuked certain Pharisees for enlarging the boxes to make themselves appear more spiritual than others and to be seen of men (see Matt. 23:5).
From Page 146 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Oct 12, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
He spends 17 years in the land of Canaan with his brothers.
He endures 13 years in Egypt as a slave and a prisoner.
At 30 years of age, he becomes second-in-command of Egypt.
He is 37 years of age after the seven years of plenty.
He is 39 years of age—two years into the famine— when he meets his brothers.
He is 44 years of age after the final five years of famine.
Joseph is 110 years of age when he dies. Thus, he enjoyed 66 years with his family and sees three gener ations of his descendants grow up in Egypt.
From Page 83 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Oct 12, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
The sacred name of God, called the tetragramma- ton, is spelled with four Hebrew letters: yod, hei, vav, and hei. When God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, He inserts the Hebrew letter hei from His divine name into Abram’s name. Hei is the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the biblical number five represents grace. The letter hei also has a strong breathing sound, representing the sound of life when it is pronounced.
God also changes Sarai’s name to Sarah, inserting the second hei of His sacred name into Sarah’s name (see Gen. 17:15). Thus, after God inserts the two letters of His divine name, one into Abraham’s name and the other into Sarah’s, God gives new “life” to Sarah and Abraham, making them fruitful and giving them their son of promise.
From Page 32 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Sep 21, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
In Genesis, the serpent was used in the temptation process. After man sinned, God placed a curse on the serpent by saying, “Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life” (Gen. 3:14). The implication is that the serpent was once able to travel and move using a method other than crawling on its belly. Researchers in Israel made an amazing discov- ery several years ago, which reveals that serpents may have originally had legs.
About a quarter of a century ago, several unusual fossils were discovered in a stone quarry at Ein Yabrud near Ramallah, which is in the West Bank area of Israel. These ancient fossils were serpents with two small hind legs. There were three well-preserved snake fossils, and they were considered evidence of the most primitive snakes ever found. This discovery added credence to the verse in Genesis 3:14, implying that before the serpent was cursed it could communicate and travel in a manner other than crawling. Amazingly, these fossils of serpents with legs were found in Israel not far from Jerusalem, again showing a parallel with the biblical narrative.
From Page 8 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
Sep 14, 2021 | Partner Nuggets
The original languages on earth were actually word pictures, or pictographs. Eventually the individual images became letters and letters became alphabets.
In 1768, the Rev. John Parkhurst produced the first Hebrew-English lexicon. In its Introduction, he stated his belief that six thousand years ago, Hebrew was the first language spoken on earth between Adam and God. If his assumption is correct, we might speak Hebrew when we get to heaven. Jewish tradition holds that the first man, Adam, spoke an ancient form of the Hebrew language in the Garden of Eden. We know Adam had knowledge of some type of language because he named the animals (see Gen. 2:19-20). Both Adam and his wife, Eve, heard the voice of God in the garden (see Gen. 3:8). The language and form of communication Adam used was passed on from Adam to Noah, who span the first ten generations of men (see Gen. 5:3-32).
In the years 1658-56 BC, floodwaters swept over the earth, bringing global destruction. Eight people survived: Noah and his wife, their three sons, and their wives (see 1 Pet. 3:20). Noah likely would have continued to speak the original language of Adam. Three generations later, Nimrod, Noah’s great-grandson through Noah’s son, Ham, constructed the first mega-structure called the Tower of Babel in the plains of Shinar (see Gen. 11). During the tower’s construction, all the earth’s inhabitants spoke one language.
“And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, for which they have imagined to do.
“Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Genesis 11:6-7)
God saw that man’s unbridled knowledge could again cause evil inclinations to spread. In a sudden moment, He struck the tower to the ground and scattered the people by confusing their languages. Nimrod’s kingdom, Babel, whose Akkadian meaning is “gate of God,” means in Hebrew “to confuse or confound” (taken from the verb balal). Akkadian is an ancient Semitic language spoken from roughly 2500 BC to AD 100 in the region of Mesopotamia, the land where Babylon once existed. According to Genesis 11:7-9, Babel was the birthplace of various world languages.
Hundreds of years later in the Torah, Moses writes of God’s dividing of the nations at the tower:
“When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
“For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 32:8-9)
Even the early church father Origen reflected on the early language of mankind when he wrote:
“All the people upon the earth are to be regarded as having used one divine language, and so long as they lived harmoniously together were preserved in the use of that divine language, and they remained from moving from the east so long as they were imbued with the sentiments of the light and the reflections of the eternal light.”
According to Origen, the original language was a divine language beginning with Adam in the garden. He believed that one group did not travel to the plains of Shinar with Nimrod, and they alone retained the pure language spoken from the beginning of time.
Since the Hebrew tongue became the language of God’s chosen people, Israel, many people assume that Adam spoke some early form of the Hebrew dialect. Jewish writings such as the Mishna (Genesis Rabbah 38) teach that Adam spoke in Hebrew. The Mishna comments that Adam called Eve “woman” (ishah), the Hebrew term for “a woman” or “a female.” He later named her Eve (see Gen. 2:23), or Chavah (meaning “life giver”) in Hebrew. Of course, the word Hebrew was unknown in Adam’s time, and his language would simply have been the language God gave or revealed to him, and he would have spoken a God-inspired tongue. Being created as a fully-grown man without systematic training from infancy to adulthood, his teaching came directly from God.
As for the name Hebrew, it originated in Shem’s great-grandson’s name, Eber (see Gen. 10:21), which comes from the verb abar, meaning to “pass through” or “region beyond.” Abram was the first Hebrew (see Gen. 14:13) because he passed over from his native land, Ur of Chaldea, to the Promised Land. The Abrahamic covenant was sealed when God passed through Abram’s sacrifices. In Egypt, God passed over the Israelite homes that were outwardly protected by the lamb’s blood (see Exod. 12:13). Joshua and Israel passed over Jordan, possessing their inheritance (see Josh. 1:2). In addition, the sojourning, or wandering, of the Jewish people has fulfilled the meaning of the name Hebrew.
The apostle Paul was a former Jewish rabbi, trained as a Pharisee under noted rabbi Gamaliel. Paul was educated in numerous languages of his time. Paul mentions God speaking to him in Hebrew when he was converted:
“And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” (Acts 26:14)
God could have addressed Paul in Greek, Latin, Aramaic, or Hebrew, since all four languages were spoken in Israel. God, however, used the “sacred tongue” with which the Torah and prophets are written: the Hebrew language.
America’s early founders were keenly aware of the significance of the Hebrew language. William Bradford (1590-1657), governor of Plymouth Colony, stated that he studied Hebrew so that when he died, he might be able to speak in the “most ancient language, the Holy Tongue in which God and the angels spoke.” In 1777, Ezra Stiles, president of Yale, stated that studying Hebrew was essential to a gentleman’s education. He said, “Isn’t it [Hebrew] the language I am sure to hear in heaven?” Even Martin Luther, not known for his kind remarks toward the Jews, commented about the Hebrew language: “The Hebrew language is the best language of all, with the richest vocabulary . . .”
In 185 BC, a writer named Eupolemus wrote, “Moses was the first wise man to teach the alphabet to the Jews who transferred them to the Phoenicians and the Phoenicians passed to the Greeks.” In 2008, archeologists in Israel discovered a shard of pottery that contained the oldest Hebrew text ever unearthed in Israel. They discovered it while excavating a fortress city in the area where David slew Goliath. The individual characters of the letters are identified as a Proto-Canaanite script, which was a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet. No doubt there is a special sanctity to the Hebrew alphabet, as this was the language and eventually the script used to record the Word of God in the Torah.
From Page 5 of the Perry Stone Hebraic Prophetic Old Testament Study Bible
