Archive for the ‘Hebrew Months’ Category

Elul 20, 5772

Posted: September 7, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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400 Rams Horns to Awaken IDF Repentance

 

 

 

400 Rams Horns to Awaken IDF Repentance
by Maayana Miskin  (www.israelnationalnews.com)

The IDF Rabbinate is purchasing 400  new shofars for use during the Hebrew months of Elul and Tishrei. The shofar,
made of a ram’s horn, is blown to help arouse Jews to repentance before Rosh  Hashanah, the Day of Judgment, and Yom Kippur, the Day of  Atonement.

Prior to the purchase, the Rabbinate gathered all of  its current shofars to see how many were still fit for use, and any damaged
horns were replaced.

Elul 19, 5772 – Teshuvah Day 19 (9/6/12)

Posted: September 6, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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Psalm 27:7, Hear, O LORD, [when] I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. (8) [When You said], “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”

These verses remind me of the prophet Habakkuk, who was crying out to God in the times much like we are living in right now. The first verses of Habakkuk, word are used to cry out to God “Why”….see trouble…. plundering…. violence….. strife….. contention arises….. law is powerless… justice never goes forth…. wicked surround the righteous,…perverse judgment proceeds.

Habakkuk’s problem is where he was seeking, where his eyes were looking.  The things in Judah were going from bad to worse and he was discouraged and losing hope because he was looking at the things on the earth.

God’s answer was found in 2:4b, “But the just shall live by his faith.” Once Habakkuk corrected his vision, and looked to God he ended the chapter with singing and dancing.

Habakkuk was part of the Levitical choir, “with my stringed instruments” (3:19).  Verses 17-19 are sung as a hymn, proclaiming that no matter what it looks like in the natural we will rejoice and praise God! We choose to trust, we choose to live by faith.”

Don Moen sings these verses beautifully http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijh_f7sTdGE

Elul 18, 5772 – Teshuvah Day 18 (9/5/12)

Posted: September 5, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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Psalm 27:6, “And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.”

Praising God is a choice!!!

The first use of sing in this passage is the Hebrew word shiyr (sheer) and it is used to ‘sing to honor someone’.

The first usage of shiyr in the Bible is in Exodus 15 after Yahweh parted the Red Sea and their enemies were drowned. They sang in honor of their Protector and Defender God.

The second use of sing in this passage is the Hebrew word zamar and it is a primitive word that carries the meaning ‘to pluck with fingers’. This use of sing is from praises using instruments. It also means ‘to dance’.

The first instance that zamar is used in the Bible is Judges 5:3 with Deborah and Barak, “”Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I, [even] I, will sing (shiyr) to the LORD; I will sing praise (zamar) to the LORD God of Israel.”

No matter what circumstance you find yourself in today, CHOOSE to sing praises to God in song, instrument and/or dance. He is so worthy of our praise!

Elul 17, 5772 – Teshuvah 17 (9/4/12)

Posted: September 4, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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Psalm 27:7, “Hear, O LORD, [when] I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me”

History records Elul 17 to be a day to cry out for mercy.

Traditionally, it was the day that the 10 spies that returned from the Promised Land with an evil report died of a plague.  (Numbers 14:37)

In 1935 Nazi Germany passed the Nuremberg Laws, a set of racist policies directed primarily against Jews. The Nazis blamed the Jews for poverty, unemployment, and the loss of World War I. Jews were banned from any professional jobs and Jewish stores were boycotted. Anyone with even one Jewish grandparent was stripped of German citizenship, with no basic rights. Within 10 years, the Nazi genocidal machine had swept through eastern Europe, leaving 6 million Jews murdered.

Today the Jews are being blamed for many things, history is again repeating itself.

Psalm 83 reads like the daily newspaper: God, don’t keep silent. Don’t keep silent, And don’t be still, God. For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads. They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones. “Come,” they say, “and let’s destroy them as a nation, That the name of Yisra’el may be remembered no more.”For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you. (HNV)

The alliance listed are the “Arab Confederacy”.

  • Edom: Southern Jordan and Palestinian refugees
  • Ishmaelites: Saudi Arabia
  • Moab: Central Jordan and Palestinian refugees
  • Hagrites: Egypt
  • Gebal: Northern Lebanon
  • Ammon: Northern Jordan and Palestinian refugees
  • Amalek: The Negev and Sinai Peninsula areas
  • Philistia: The Gaza Strip and Hamas
  • Tyre: Southern Lebanon and Hezbollah
  • Assyria: Syria and Northern Iraq

Elul 16, 5772 – Teshuvah Day 16 (9/3/12)

Posted: September 3, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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Hold Your Head High – No Need To Be Embarrassed

Psalm 27:6, “And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me:”

Our King is a conquering King! When a king would overthrow another king in battle, the back of his garment would be cut off and his back side would be exposed. The word ’embarrassed’ comes from this warfare tradition. The conquered king would be paraded through the streets with his ‘back-side bared’.

We can hold our head high because the battle has already been done and the enemy of God has been paraded the enemy of His in disgrace.

Colossians 2:15 tells us, “[And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” In Greek ‘made a shew’ means to ‘expose in disgrace.’

Elul 15, 5772 – Teshuvah Day 15 (9/2/12)

Posted: September 2, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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Psalm 27:5, “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.”

Rock– tsuwr (tsur) rock or cliff, rock of God

The first place we find tsuwr in the Bible is Exodus 17:6, where the Hebrew children were without water and thought they would die of thirst in the Wilderness. Water to satisfy the thirst of the entire nation was found in that rock. That rock actually ‘followed’ them and satisfied the nation’s thirst for 40 years!!! I Corinthians 10:3-4 reveals ‘they drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them, and that Rock was the Messiah.’

The second place we find tsuwr in the Bible is Exodus 33:21-22. Moses was on Mt Sinai for the 2nd set of 40 days seeking atonement for the nation for the Golden Calf incident. Moses wanted to see God’s glory, but Yahweh showed Moses His goodness. He told Moses “And the LORD said, Behold, [there is] a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:”

Deuteronomy 32:4 praises Yahweh, “[He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God
of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.”

A marvelous little book called His Names Are Wonderful by Elizabeth L Vander Meulen and Barbara D Malda shares on page 135 about The Rock, HaTzur. “The expression, ‘like the rock of Gibraltar’ has come to mean something or someone that is impressive, dependable, steady, or immovable. God is our rock-solid place. Firmly plant your feet on The Rock and you will not be moved, no matter what storms of life come crashing your way.”

Elul 13 5772 – Teshuvah Day 13 (8/31/12)

Posted: August 31, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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Psalm 27:5, “For in the time (day) of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.”

Our 3 places of safety in the ‘day’ or ‘time’ of trouble are pavilion, tabernacle and rock. Yesterday we remembered how Yahweh was so faithful in the Wilderness for 40 years, remembering their inhabitation of ‘pavilion’, tents.

TABERNACLE:

  • First we must remember that the Tabernacle is a ‘secret place’, not open to strangers. It was a place of ‘hiding’, a place of safety
  • In the Wilderness, the Tabernacle was a tent that housed the presence of Yahweh, where God might dwell among His people. It is described in Exodus 26 and 36-40. The entire last part of Exodus recalls the building of the dwelling place for God in the Wilderness.
  • Ohel, comes from the root ‘ahal‘, which means ‘shineth‘. The glory of God would be in the Tabernacle, and when the glory cloud moved they moved. When the glory cloud stopped they stopped. The entire nation was camped around the presence of God and there they found their safety.

The safest place is in God’s presence! But we have a life here on this earth we must live out, so we go into His presence in the morning, and then carry His presence with us throughout the day.

Elul 12, 5772- Teshuvah Day 12 (8/30/12)

Posted: August 30, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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HISTORY MERELY REPEATS ITSELF!

Psalm 27:5, “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of  his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.”

The Bible gives us answers to every problem before they happen. That is why we need a constant, steady, daily Bible reading plan.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 in the Amplified Bible reads, “The thing that has been—it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.”  The New Living Translations reads, “History merely repeats itself.”

  • Pavilion– Hebrew cok (soke), root word means a hedge, fenced about or shut in.
  • Tabernacle– Hebrew ohel (o-hel)- nomad’s tent, dwelling place, sacred place in the Wilderness
  • Rock– Hebrew tsuwr (tsur), rock, cliff, rock (of God)

The first one I want to look at today is ‘pavilion’. Where do we find the safety of pavilion in the Bible? Cok is the root for cukkah (sukah) , where we get the word Tabernacles, booths.

Leviticus 23:34 instructs, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month [shall be] the feast of tabernacles [for] seven days unto the LORD.”  The Jewish people continue annually to make booths outside their homes once a year to keep them in remembrance of the 40 years in the Wilderness, when their shoes did not wear out, or their feet swelled. The daily rehearse before their children and their children’s children how God fed them for 40 years in the Wilderness, how God protected them from their enemies.

Jehovah is the same, He never changes. Take today and remember how He protected you in your personal wilderness. Then, thank Him. He is worthy of all praise and glory and honor!!

Elul 11, 5772 – Teshuvah Day 11 (8/29/12)

Posted: August 29, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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ONE THING

This Saturday  is the Hebrew Shabbat (Sabbath) and the Torah reading that all Jews will be reading around the world is from Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19. It is called Ki Tetse, meaning ‘When you go out’ which are the word beginning this Shabbat Torah reading. This reading is full of does and don’ts that are part of the 613 laws the Jewish people are to keep.

When Jesus had a visit from the Pharisees, as recorded in Matthew 22, they tried to pin Him down as to the most important law of the 613. His answer was, “Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important and first of any on the list. But there is a second to set alongside it’; ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs: everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hands on them.” (Message Bible)

David fulfilled that royal command,  recording his desire as found in Psalm 27, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.” He was not perfect, but he worshiped an awesome God, who is worthy of praise.

Elul 10, 5772 – Teshuvah Day 10 (8/28/12)

Posted: August 28, 2012 in Teshuvah 40 Day Devotional
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ONE THING  

One of the people who has most affected my life is Dr. Billye Brim of Prayer Mountain in the Osarks. One of her main assignments in these last days is to prepare the people to pray for the Second Coming of the Lord. When her prayer group was meeting to pray about the 2008 elections, the Word of the Lord came through Billye:

One thing will save America.
And it is NOT the election.
It is an awakening to God!
One thing will help Israel and the nations.
It is an awakening to God.

American Standard Version of Psalm 27:4 reads, “One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in his temple.”

Remember, what you look at the longest becomes the strongest. Look to Adonai, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He will save us. He will complete the good work He has begun in us and perfect all that concerns us.

Enjoy Psalmist Marty Goetz as he sings this on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lF2_fHXOS8

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