Author: Tekoa

Tekoa Manning is the author of two fictional works, Walter the Homeless Man, and Polishing Jade. She is also the author of several inspirational teaching books including her devotional Thirsting for Water, and Blow a Trumpet in Tekoa, a more in-depth study of the Biblical Feasts. Her popular series, Doctrines of Demons, will be releasing part three during the summer of 2019. These books uncover a plethora of man-made doctrines that have crept in overtime, including heaven, hell, and satan. Manning has been featured numerous times on Hebrew Nation Radio, as well as Messianic Lamb Radio. She has won several awards for her pen, including the Kentuckiana Metroversity poetry prize for Women's History. Her historical fiction was accepted to the Kentucky Book Fair in 2015. Tekoa is a lover and devoted student of God's Word. She is an active blogger whose words help bring healing to the sick, downcast, and those suffering from a broken heart. Manning is a lover of dreams and gifted in the area of interpretation. She is the mother of three sons, one grandson, and the wife of a retired police chief. Tekoa and her husband reside in a small town in Kentucky where the deer roam free.
Posted in Tekoa Manning, TM

Widow

Posted on by Tekoa

I’m still transferring blogs from my old website.  This one speaks to the heart of us all. It is a tad early, but July will be here before we know it.

 

One of my mother’s favorite movies was Gone With the Wind. We watched it every year growing up, and I can almost recite the whole four-hour film verbatim. At one point in the movie, Scarlett sees that the one she is smitten with, Ashley, is to marry another. As war breaks out, she marries Mr. Hamilton to make Ashley jealous. This man dies during battle, and the next scene shows Scarlett dressed in black with a dark veil, her mourning clothes. Against her family’s better judgment, she leaves Tara and runs off to Atlanta to support a charity banquet. One event to raise money involved men bidding to dance with fair maidens for the cause.

Rhett Butler pays a pretty penny to have Scarlett dance with him.

“150 dollars in gold for Mrs. Charles Hamilton!”

The crowd is stunned. Mouths gasped open as elderly women fan themselves and grab smelling salts.

Widows don’t dance with men. Widows mourn. They wear dark colors and go about with their heads bowed, but not Katie Scarlett. She is ready to dance a hundred steps.

“She’ll never agree to it,” the auctioneer bellows.

“Oh, yes, I will!” she screams. To mourn a man Scarlett never loved seemed pointless at her young, vibrant age, and so against her Aunt Pitty Pat’s better judgment, she takes Rhett’s hand and allows him to spin her across the ballroom as she exclaims,

“I am going to dance, and dance! Why I wouldn’t mind dancing with Abe Lincoln himself.”

See the source image

But a true widow, a woman who loved her husband, and knew him intimately, year after year, becoming more and more one with him, would have found no dance in her feet. No joy or gleam in her eyes. Her sorrow could not be exchanged for gold or dancing with the most handsome man in the room.

Israel, at one point, was that Bride.

“I remember the devotion of your youth,

   your love as a bride,

   and the way you followed Me in the wilderness,

   in a land not sown” (Jeremiah 2:2 TLV).

But what happens when a bride wanders away from her bed and goes off with other lovers? She will be issued a certificate of divorce and sent away.

“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to be with another man, will he return to her again?

Would not such a land be totally polluted?

You are a prostitute with many lovers.

Now, are you returning to Me?” (Jeremiah 3:1 TLV).

A wife caught cheating may wash and clean up better than Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, but her husband knows what she is.

“Even though you wash with lye

and use an abundance of soap,

the stain of your iniquity is before Me.”

It is a declaration of the Lord Adonai.

“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled—

I have not gone after the Baalim?

Look at your behavior in the Valley!

. . . All males that pursue her will not tire themselves.

   At mating time they will find her” (Jeremiah 2:22-24 TLV).

Jeremiah starts the book of Lamentations with a word that hasn’t left my spirit for days. One word that divulges and uncovers darkness and horror all by itself—WIDOW.

The word widow in Hebrew also means an ’empty house.’ Picture our own spiritual houses void of His presence. A widow was said to have no husband or any male figure to help her–no father, no father-in-law, no brother or son.

Empty.

Jeremiah compares Jerusalem and God’s people as a widow.

“How lonely sits the city

That was full of people!

She has become LIKE A WIDOW.

Who was once great among the nations!” (Lam. 1:1).

We are used to seeing widows dressed in black, mourning the loss of a husband, but what if the husband is right there watching while he removes his STRONG RIGHT ARM of protection and instead uses it for destruction?

What if the husband sits back while his bride is being destroyed, raped, pillaged, and set on fire with scorching heat? What if her husband strips her of her clothing—her dignity, her silver and gold, and causes her to walk barefoot without her jewels and trinkets?

WIDOW!

He leaves her cupboards bare and her heart even emptier? What if he doesn’t care anymore about who respects or honors her or her children?

A Torah scroll draped in black.

WIDOW!

“In fierce anger, He has cut off

All the strength of Israel;

He has drawn back His right hand

From before the enemy.

He has bent His bow like an enemy;

He has set His right hand like an adversary

And slain all that were pleasant to the eye;

In the tent of the daughter of Zion

           He has poured out His wrath like fire.” (Lamentation 2:3, 4 NASB)

Abba had sent His prophet to warn.

Yes, years of warning.

Years of crying and weeping and walking through the streets, proclaiming in the temple, but no one listened. No one heard Jeremiah’s cry. They mocked Jeremiah and made up cruel songs about him.

“I have become a laughingstock to all my people,

Their mocking song all the day.

He has filled me with bitterness,

He has made me drunk with wormwood.

He has broken my teeth with gravel;

He has made me cower in the dust.

My soul has been rejected from peace;

 I have forgotten happiness” (Lamentations 3:14-17 NASB).

They had Jeremiah thrown in prisons and cisterns and dungeons. He was loathed and rejected. Jeremiah, Moses, and David shared many things in common such as TEARS.

“You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?” (Psalm 56:8).

Tear catchers or labyrinth bottles are small objects made of colorful blown glass from around the period of 100 C.E. Those who mourned the destruction of the temple placed their tears in these bottles, and according to a myth, it was believed that the Messiah would come when the bottles were filled to the brim.

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet before he was even formed in his mother’s womb. He knew about tears. He knew weeping and mourning. It was his life.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

And before you were born I consecrated you;

I have appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:1 NASB).

This descendant of Rahab and Joshua was a prophet who would never marry, never have children, and be persecuted by the very ones he was trying to warn. Most young girls look forward to the day they can be a bride, and most young men yearn to have a son or a daughter. The Word says that a man who has found a wife has found a good thing. Marrying and having children is a blessing, but what if you received the following message?

“The word of the LORD also came to me saying, “You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place.” For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bear them, and their fathers who beget them in this land: “They will die of deadly diseases, they will not be lamented or buried; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine, and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth” (Jeremiah 16:1-4 NASB).

It’s bad enough having such grief over your nation and people, but to have to suffer alone with no one to hold you at night, take your hand, and pray–it is unthinkable. Jeremiah was built for this. He was formed with all the ingredients he would need to be a weeping prophet. And although the people had the stiffest of necks, he still had to pronounce judgment and warn the people of what was to come if they did not turn from their other lovers, repent, and keep the Commandments.

Lamentations is read every year on the eve of the 9th of Av. There are dates in our minds that we never forget. Some due to great joy, like the birth of a child, and others due to great sorrow, like 9/11.

The 9th of Av is said to be when the spies returned with an evil report except for Caleb and Joshua.

“The First Temple was also destroyed on the 9th of Av (423 BCE). Five centuries later (in 69 CE), as the Romans drew closer to the Second Temple, ready to torch it, the Jews were shocked to realize that their Second Temple was destroyed the same day as the first.”

To include all the tragedies said to have happened on this date would take quite a bit of time. Even World War One occurred on the 9th of Tisha b Av. By the time we get to the gas chambers and Hitler, to collect His people’s tears would have taken bottles that could hold a whole ocean of waters.

Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month (Av), as I have done for so many years?” -Zechariah 7:3

In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month… came Nebuzaradan … and he burnt the house of the L-RD… – Jeremiah 52:12-13

Mourn like a widow cloaked in black.

“Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears. That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people” (Jeremiah 9:1 NASB).

Lately, my tears have been backing up and not draining, so I have been carrying tissues or cloth to dab them. When our tear ducts are blocked, our tears back up and spill over our eyelids like a river; it’s as if we are crying continuously. During this time, I was reminded of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. When I think of this young man’s life and his instructions and obedience, I am amazed. Years and years went by with him sounding the alarm and warning the people to turn from idols. Explaining the cruel destruction that was coming. He was punished for telling the truth because it wasn’t what the people wanted to hear.

It never is.

Who wants to hear that they are not living set apart and holy lives and that destruction is coming and such destruction indeed, that their sacred temple would be burned to the ground? Their enemies would be allowed to enter their gates of the city and destroy everything. Jeremiah saw the whole thing come forth, and he was aching with sorrow for his people.

“I am the man who has seen affliction

Because of the rod of His wrath.

He has driven me and made me walk

In darkness and not in light.

Surely against me, He has turned His hand

Repeatedly all the day.

He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,

He has broken my bones.

He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.

In dark places He has made me dwell,

Like those who have long been dead.

He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;

He has made my chain heavy.

Even when I cry out and call for help,

He shuts out my prayer” (Lamentations 3:1-8).

This message was one that he had to get out because it was like fire shut up in his bones. It was a heartbreaking message of alarm to a people fat and happy and sound asleep.

“We are blessed and highly favored,” they roared. You are a negative lying prophet. You are a traitor, and we will have you killed for it!” They continued with their idolatry. They continued dressing in their garments, baking Challah, going to the temple, drinking, eating, and marrying. God will do nothing, they told themselves. Life will go on as it always has.

This reminds me of what is mentioned concerning Yeshua’s return. (2nd Peter 3:4) “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” NASB.

But He will come! And He will set up His Kingdom.

Lamentations end with hope. By the time we get to the end of Chapter Three, we hear the good news. The Gospel. Jeremiah has a promise for them. After 70 years in Babylon, Abba will give them hope and a future. A day is coming that will be so glorious they will not be able to imagine it. Their hearts will leap like a deer, a young colt, and they will be joyful in the city of Their God. Their husband will call them back. He will again woo them and speak tenderly to them.

I believe we are getting closer to a season of rebuilding. The other day, a friend spoke to me about how she feels the 9th of Av will be a time of restoration and rebuilding our temples. His people, our families! I believe it.

I close with this joyous passage.

“Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD;

‘For I am a master to you,

And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,

And I will bring you to Zion.’

head portrait of a beautiful long wool hair sheep looking at the camera in the winter for agriculture, countryside and ecology

“Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. “It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. “At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. “In those days, the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

“Then I said,

‘How I would set you among My sons

And give you a pleasant land,

The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’

And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father,

And not turn away from following Me.’

“Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover,

So you have dealt treacherously with Me,

O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

A voice is heard on the bare heights,

The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel;

Because they have perverted their way,

They have forgotten the LORD their God.

“Return, O faithless sons,

I will heal your faithlessness.”

(Lamentations 3:14- NASB).

His mercies are made new each morning! Great is His faithfulness! May He rebuild His House.

Blessings,

Tekoa

 

Sources:

Thank you Andrew for your lovely photo!

Tears in a Bottle

http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayd.htm

Photos: Tekoa Manning,

http://www.freebibleimages.org/illustrations/jeremiah-cistern/

 

 

Posted in authority, Five-Fold and Torah, Tekoa Manning, TM

A Body with a Withered Hand– 5-Fold

Posted on by Tekoa

There is nothing worse than a dead tree. Dead trees attract pests and termites. Dead trees carry disease that spreads to other trees. Dead trees may fall and cause damage, but what about dead hands? Withered hands?

It has been a while since I have written about the 5-fold structure mentioned in the Torah and the Newer Testament by Paul (Sha’ul). In this writing, we will look at the man with the withered hand mentioned in 3 out of the 4 Gospels and how we, His Body (the church), may have a withered hand that needs healing. Also, the bookends connected with this story give it more meaning.

And He said to them, “Is it right to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. And having looked around on them with displeasure, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other. And the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him (Mark 3:3-6).

The story is told in Matthew and Luke, but we do not feel the grief of the Messiah as we do in Mark. The first time we read “Stretch out your hand” is in the Garden.

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever (Genesis 3:22, NASB).

The word hand in these verses also means phallus and being sent out. Are we spreading seeds that are the spiritual seed of Abraham?

Yeshua tells a man to stretch out his hand. Instantly the man’s dried up, dead hand is restored. Picture each finger representing leadership in the Body of Messiah, the Ten Sayings, and the first five books of Moses. The Father calls, He equips, and He sends out. The Hebrew word for hand is Yad. This noun means hands but also counting fingers. The hand denotes ones strength or power–weakness.

I have read the verse from Genesis 3 above multiple times and questioned why the Holy One would NOT want Adam to take from the Tree of Life and live forever. Isn’t that what we are hoping and waiting for? Eternal life? Adam does not immediately die after eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He lives until he is 930 years of age. Of course, Adam is no longer in the garden (Paradise), he has been kicked out, and flaming swords guard the tree of life. If the fleshly nature of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is not dealt with, then man may think he has the power of life and death in his hands. I assure you, we do not.

The seduction of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is evident. Eve (Chavah) saw that the tree was desirable to look at and good for food and wisdom, yet it left her naked. What if we think we are gaining clothing, but we are naked?  Some of the religious rulers during the healing of the hand thought they had multiple layers of clothing, which they called fences. Fences are not harmful until, well, they are. What if His Body has a dead right hand and a hard heart? We are one loaf.

See the source image

When the man was healed it was Shabbat, a joyful day. Messiah was NOT trying to get anyone to break His Father’s Set apart day, but He was trying to show them that our Father desires mercy and compassion for weightier matters– like the man seated among them with a hand that no longer worked. If we were to look at everyone Yeshua healed and name each miracle, we would notice something hearybreaking– they all represent our own spiritual conditions in the past or present. Yeshua healed the blind eyes. He opened deaf ears. He healed the lepers. He healed the lame. He raised the dead. He sent demons into swine, and he quenched a woman who had bled a long time. Are we bleeding? Blind? Naked? Deaf?  “You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” Revelation 3:17. One church mentioned in Revelations thought they were well fed, wealthy, and needed nothing.

Are we armed, each knowing his rank and position, and yet, not able to count together from 1 to 50? Are we running from teacher to teacher and place to place looking for someone to lay hands on our eyes? To place mud and spit? Do we need someone to tell us to stretch out our hands? The Master?

The world can be seductive, but ministry and gatherings can be too. The right hand has 5 fingers. The Father sent them out of Egypt in ranks of 50. In Ephesians, we read about the 5-fold. This is something we need, but I do not see congregations doing this. Even after 3 years. Even when the fruit is bountiful. There is fear. The same fear people had when others told them they were to keep His Feasts. What is the result of no leadership? A very guarded pulpit. No one is held accountable to another. No other Elders qualified to teach. No eye of the prophet to correct. We do not need prophetic itching ear words, but we need the eye that sees and says, we must repent of this or that. No apostles. No one checking on congregations as Paul did. No music except the same few people every week. The term “shepherd,” erroneously translated as “pastor” in Ephesians 4:11, is a spiritual endowment to care for Adonai’s sheep. Answering to the Great Shepherd. When will we be in order as His camps were?

And He (Messiah) Himself gave some as emissaries (Apostles), and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as shepherds (pastors) and teachers for the perfecting of the set-apart ones, to the work of service to a building up of the body of the Messiah, until we all come to the unity of the belief and of the knowledge of the Son of Elohim, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the completeness of Messiah, so that we should no longer be children, tossed and borne about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men, in cleverness, unto the craftiness of leading astray but, maintaining the truth in love,…(Ephesians 4:11-15).

See the source image

Even children know how to count from 1 to 50 together. Even children can be unified about certain elementary beliefs. Even children learn how to follow the leader or line up for lunch. When the camp broke, and the tribes moved out, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon headed the line. They all followed Judah. Judah is not going to see Messiah or look for Him in their Bible, our Bible, if we cannot follow and count unified. How is Judah going to see the Messiah from the tribe of Judah if we not following His Word? If a person leaves home and is scattered abroad and doesn’t see his or her family for years then suddenly comes home, do they have a right to tell the family to change what time they have dinner? What dates they keep every year for a family reunion? Ponder. Think.

In the story of the withered hand, we read of no joy, no dancing, or awe over a miracle? We know this man must have come every Sabbath to sit and listen to the Torah Portion, pray, and fellowship. He was part of the body there, but the leadership was more worried about breaking the Torah or the oral Torah than healing a man who could not use his right hand. How’s our spiritual ride side? Do not think of physical sickness, think of a spiritual malady.

Have you ever broke your hand? A finger? I once had my right arm go entirely numb. It was very frustrating and scary. I had to get my husband to help me with multiple things. I had to be hospitalized for a week. If we are to be unified and one, shouldn’t we be able to hold a sword in one hand and work with the other?

All congregations and religious communities have unspoken rules and things they believe to be done in a certain way.  Yeshua healed, and men said, “Don’t heal on the sabbath.”  The followers of Shammai, at that time, were the most powerful of the Pharisaic Schools. The two primary schools were that of Shammai and Hillel. It was said during that time that the school of Shammai binds; the school of Hillel looses. Yeshua loosed that day, and a man’s hand was restored. Shammai made the Sabbath so strict; he sucked all the joy out of it. This is why Yeshua told Peter what you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven. What you loose shall be loosed. Freedom was coming!  He who the Son sets free is free indeed. Are you free? Not free from obedience but free to heal on the sabbath? What about free to pick grain and eat it?

If the Body has a problem with dead hands right now, could it also involve laying hands on those equipped for service?

Yeshua did not touch the man with the withered hand. He told him to stretch out his hand, and it was restored. We can stretch out our hands to help the sick, poor, orphans, widows, etc. We can stretch out our hand to minister in many ways, but what if our hand is withered? Shriveled dried-up grapes on the vine are no good to anyone. Dead things don’t grow or produce fruit. What if our hands keep grasping on to dead things? Dead works? Dead objects? What if our hands are reaching for addictions, material things? People pleasing? What if our hands (mouths) are speaking death in the season of life? Do our hands follow our hearts? Or does our heart condition direct our hands/words?  Out of the abundance of our hearts, our mouths speak. Imagine two hands, one belongs to the religious rulers, and the other hand belongs to Yeshua and His disciples. One hand has life and brings forth life. One hand ties heavy loads on people’s backs and does not lift a finger/ hand to help. One hand sets people free, and one hand keeps them in bondage. One mouth speaks great boasting, and one mouth humility. One mouth divides, and one joins. If Yeshua was grieved over their hearts, shouldn’t we check ourselves?

We read about hands often without realizing it.

Stretch out your hand, Noah, and take the dove back into the ark. Stretch out your hand, Moses, and part the sea. Stretch out your hand, Yacov/ Israel and lay it on the head of Ephraim and bless him.

Hands are curious things with significant meanings in the Bible. Right before Yeshua heals the man’s withered hand on the sabbath, His disciples are being pointed out to Him by the Pharisees for breaking the Sabbath. This too involved hands:

The story told in Luke is inserted between two other stories. The first story is about Yeshua’s disciples picking grain on the sabbath. The text says, “ His taught ones were plucking the heads of grain and were eating, rubbing them in the hands” (Luke 6:1, ISR).  Yeshua’s disciples are eating life and rubbing it in their hands (Wheat Harvest). They were hungry on the Sabbath. Being hungry on the Sabbath is a good thing! The second story is about the man who had a withered hand who was sitting in the congregation. Right after Yeshua heals the man whose hand is withered (dried up), Yeshua goes out to the mountain to pray all night. When it became day, He called near His taught ones and he chose from them twelve. Yeshua had more students, but he prayed and appointed 12. Now the hungry men will have power and authority.

 

When we read of appointing men for office or service to the Lord, we learn that they laid hands on them. This is why Paul warns Timothy not to lay hands on any man suddenly. This verse has nothing to do with prayers and demons jumping onto a person.

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double respect, especially those who labour in the word and teaching.

For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The labourer is worthy of his wages.”

Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.

Reprove those who are sinning, in the presence of all, so that the rest also might fear.

I earnestly witness before Elohim and the Master יהושע Messiah, and the chosen messengers, that you watch over these matters without prejudice, doing none at all with partiality.

Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in sins of others. Keep yourself clean.

 (I Timothy 5:17-22, ISR).

This laying on of hands is about looking at a man’s character and integrity before anointing him and putting him in a position of eldership. Paul is saying don’t lay hands too quickly just because the man is your friend. Elders were equipped to teach. This was not just men in charge of tithes and offerings and running the sound system or online computer for Livestream. These were part of the 5-fold offices. I am praying will come forth for maturity and unity in the Body of Messiah according to Ephesians 5.

Every so often my gut is grieved over this because I know the things people fear the most are what brings order. Not like the Nicolaitans. We have that already and Yeshua said He hated it.

(Numbers 27:18) “So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him;” No withered hand here.

(Deuteronomy 34:9) “Now Joshua, the son of Nun, was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.”

 

“. . .they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them” ((Acts 6:5-6, ESV).

(II Timothy 1:6) “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” No withered hand here. 

 

(Judges 5:26) “She reached out her hand for the tent peg, And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer. Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; And she shattered and pierced his temple. May we pierce the “temple” of Sisera, take our tent pegs, stretch them out, and expand our territory! May our right hands be whole and holding the workman’s hammer. Joining prophetess Deborah–Bee/ Word and mantle to rise up and be unified. Milk and Honey and meat.

Posted in poetry, Tekoa Manning, TM

Ruth Speaks

Posted on by Tekoa

I’m still moving blogs from Obadiah’s Cave to my new site. This is an older poem I wrote. The poem is dedicated to my husband, my Boaz, and my best friend. Thank you, Chief, for making every minute of this crazy life count.

 

Ruth speaks:

Won’t you cover me?

Boaz cover your רות with your skirts.

Even if it hurts.

Heavenly blue.

613 blossoms that bloom.

Won’t your Ruth cover you?

As your etzer Kenegdo.

 

Can you spread your garment over me?

And clothe me in dignity?

Wrap me in your strength,

And guard me from the enemy.

Oh, won’t you cover your Ruth?

 

Won’t you take me as your bride?

I can’t continue to creep away in the night,

From your threshing floor

Where all your goods are stored…

Won’t you open the door for your Ruth?

 

Boaz speaks:

No servant is to touch my Ruth.

No onlooker shall give her a rebuke.

Yes, I will cover you.

I will give you water to drink.

And you shall glean even among the sheaves,

And no man will insult you,

And I will have my servants drop grain.

Handfuls left behind for you to take,

Yes, on purpose!

 

I will go before the city gate and in front of every man state,

Here she is, my Ruth.

Come ten men,

Come Elders, come all.

Do you still have a case?

The widow Naomi I’ll take.

As you take off your shoe,

Handing me what you refuse.

 

You are witnesses today that I have purchased Ruth to be my bride

And to raise up her seed.

And to be a covering indeed. 

 

Oh, Ruth, I’ll never back down.

I’ll never not stand!

For we are One.

And Obed will be our child.

His name means servant, as he will be

Until through our lineage comes a great, great King.

Yeshua HaMashiach

All Glory and Honor

Every knee must bow

And we, dear Ruth, will toss Him our crowns.

 

Ruth:

I love you. My Boaz

You are my best friend.

We are one now, and we’ll be one to the end.

A picture of tragedy

But we’ve conquered now and won.

The next generation will have records of our swords.

And they will stand tall, mighty and strong.

Dressed in tallit’s blowing shofars undone

May the army rise up.

All across our land, and May the next generation.

Have a sword in their hands

 

I love you, my Boaz.

I thank you as well,

For proclaiming to the world,

For protecting me in your fields

Yes, I am your bride.

And my heart cannot take this love that I feel.

For it’s ready to burst.

It’s ready to sing

It’s ready to shout

For the new coming King

 

Boaz:

I love you, my Ruth

You’ll bow lowly before kings.

You’re a friend to the hurting.

And a friend to those in need.

I was given a rare gift.

When the Father prepared you

We are one in the spirit.

We are one with His truths.

 

“So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his isha; and when he went in unto her, Hashem gave her conception, and she bore ben [T.N. see Isa 7:14]. And the nashim said unto Naomi, Baruch Hashem, which hath not left thee this yom without a Go’el. May shmo be famous in Yisroel. And may he restore your nefesh and be a nourisher of thine old age; for thy kallah, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than shiva banim, hath born him.” Ruth 4:13-15 OJB.

Posted in Pentecost/ Shavuot, TM

Mar-A-Lago and Shavuot

Posted on by Tekoa

 

Although words like Trump, Donald, and Mar-a-Lago will be in this blog, it is not a political post and has nothing much to do with the Donald.

 The other day, I decided to go to an opposite news source, CNN via YouTube. As I was comparing headlines, one caught my attention. The video was titled Not an easy transition: Hear inside details of Trump’s post-presidency life. 

 Gabby Orr (CNN reporter covering Republican politics) explained that when Trump arrived in Palm Beach in January, he had no office, phones, computers, or office furniture set up. Trump is planning to run for presidency in 2024. Gabby continued: “The photos we have of Trump meeting with candidates and former aides at Mar-A-Lago are from the Bridal Chamber Suite.” When Gabby said Bridal Suite, my mind began to picture The King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s and His Bride preparing to meet the Holiest, wisest, most merciful humble King ever to live, die, and rise again.

The news anchors asked Gabby to describe what the bridal sweet was. “Is this a bedroom with a heart-shaped hot tub? They chuckled. “Is this the honeymoon sweet?” More laughs. Then Gabby Orr said, “No, this is the place where the bride would prepare herself to meet her husband.”

My mind was spinning.

Gabby (Woman of God) Orr (Light in Hebrew)

The name Donald means “world ruler.” Adonai is Ruler over ALL. Trump “a name for a trumpeter.”

(1 Thessalonians 4:16) For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Dead bones come forth first. There is a pattern.

  1. “Prophesy concerning these bones and tell them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! (Ezekiel 37:4)
  2. And as I prophesied, there was suddenly a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. (37:7)
  3. As I looked on, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. (37:8) 

  4. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and tell the breath that this is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live! So I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet—a vast army. (37:9-10)

And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET BLAST, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31).

Once the dead bones are raised, we take on flesh and spirit and a mighty BREATH. I believe when this mighty breath starts blowing the whole body is going to see miracles that happened just as when Yeshua walked this earth.

We, His bride are preparing. Anyone who came into this movement years ago must see how dry bones are now hearing and obeying. We see how the army is making a rattling noise and putting on flesh. This preparation of a bride is something we all know we must do together, and we see this happening before our eyes, but how do we know what this looks like prophetically? 

We know that chicken broth makes us feel better when we are sick, and we know honey taste good in tea, we know rain makes the grass grow, and so on, but do we know how nervous and excited a bride was before premarital sex became as normal as erectile discomfort commercials? 

man in white dress shirt wearing black framed eyeglasses

The Word says we make ourselves ready: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). 

Marriage is a dying thing. Of course people were still getting married in Noah’s day but were they chaste? Holy, set apart, waiting for that day?

“The number of unmarried partners living together in the United States nearly tripled in two decades from 6 million to 17 million. (xls).” United States Census Bureau 2015.

We do not want to be a Bride who has lost her loving feeling and become desensitized and unholy.

Marriage is a two-step process. Betrothal or Kiddushin (sanctification) in Hebrew starts with a covenant. We are in a binding marriage contract. Although the bride and groom are fully married in a betrothal, the bride and groom are not permitted to live together as husband and wife until it is time. No man knows the day or the hour of the wedding, only the Father. The betrothal usually lasts a year, and then it is time to consummate the marriage, the two become one. It’s the whole Bible story—a marriage and a betrothal period of intimacy that lasts until the bride and groom become one physically and spiritually. 

Back to Trump and Mar-a-Lago: 

 “In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2). While the bride and groom live in separate homes during the betrothed period, the bride works on her wedding garments, and the groom prepares a house. If we are His Body, a whole army, we work on our garments together. When one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. We are a whole loaf of bread. If we say we are without sin or work, we are liars. 

 Honeymoons today may never happen due to people living together. Some couples experience nothing the couple hasn’t already experienced. How does a holy bride prepare for a holy King?

When the bride enters the room, everyone stands. She has perfect hair, skin, nails, makeup, and all eyes in the room look at the beauty of the bride. But do we as His Body really know what it is like to prepare for a King people cannot stand before, Esther? A king who owns all the threshing floors in all the world, Ruth? A King who has already provided a garment for His Bride? We as a Bride took our vows, “All the Lord has said, we will do!” And if we are to work together as one, shouldn’t we be in one accord, more forgiving, more ready to grab soda water and scrub a spot on our gown? Or more ready to cover someone who is exposed? Shouldn’t we weep with the broken and hold those who need held even if the world wants us to stay 6 feet apart? 

 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless. Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:11-14, BSB). 

Before Yeshua discusses the man who had no wedding clothes, he talks about many people He invited to His wedding feast but they were all too busy to come.

Our Heavenly Husband is ready to communicate, and He needs no politicians, phones, internet, or office furniture. He has Holy Furniture. The only thing He needs is a bride who will forsake all the things of the world, pick up their cross and follow Him.

Mar-a-Lago means Sea to Lake.

Chaim Bentorah has a wonderful blog called Waters Sea. Here is a short snippet:

“Sea: The root words of both water and sea are the rare cases where it is dual and TriLiteral. Waters is spelled “mem, yod,” and seas is spelled “yod, mem.” 

Each has a numerical value of 50. The numerical value of the word for “you are mine” is also 50. When the ancient seaman ventured out onto the seas, he knew his fate belonged to the sea. The sea was saying: “You are mine.” Could Peter have been thinking about this when he saw Jesus (Yeshua) walking on water and in the midst of the storm that seemed to be saying; “You are mine” Jesus (Yeshua) was showing that he was overpowering the mighty waters and was saying the terror of the sea can not claim you because “you are mine.”

See the source image

art By, Art Pascal

We are His—all of us, every part of us.

 Many have been counting up to 50 for the Feasts of Shavuot or Pentecost. This was a day when the Father gave His bride gifts and comfort. 

 “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift the Father promised, which you have heard Me discuss. 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5).

Jesus/Yeshua ascends and tells them to wait. They knew what this meant since Yeshua had died on Passover and rose again on First Fruits. They all were counting the Omer that led to the next feast. They were counting up to 50. Yeshua was letting them know that on the following feast, the outpouring of the Spirit would occur. They were waiting for a feast day, not a holiday, not an egg hunt, not a derby horse race, not a jolly man keeping a list of who’s been naughty or nice. They were obeying the Father’s commandments according to (Leviticus 23:15-16).  

Donald set up an office in the bridal suite. If you want to be a part of this country club, there is a considerable fee. If you want to rent a room or plan a wedding with a great feast for your wedding guest, all can be arranged if you have the money or know the Donald personally. If you want to be a part of the Greatest wedding feast of all time, it starts with a marriage vow and a free gift of salvation, but there is also a cost. “In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33, BSB).

“The Mar-a-Lago Club sits royally amidst 20 valuable acres of manicured lawns, vibrant gardens, and sweeping sea-to-lake vista in Palm Beach, Florida. 

Palm:

The 11th Hebrew letter is Kaph. Kaph means palm, a picture of the palm of the hand with the numerical value of 20. In reference to the creation of man, it is said: “You have placed Your Palm [kaf] over me.” “Twenty pieces of silver for which Joseph’s brothers sold him. Twenty cubits, the maximum height of a Sukkah.” ( The Hebrew Letters: Kaf–Inner.org) Think Yeshua Messiah also sold for 20 pieces of silver and a day when we tabernacle with Him!

Florida is a word I have been thinking of a lot lately. My husband humbly washed my feet during Passover and dried my feet with a beach towel engraved with Florida. Yeshua washed his disciple’s feet before he was crucified. The word Florida means “Feast of Flowers” Oh, how lovely to think of the sweet aroma of flowers around the throne when we keep His feasts and give Him Glory.

A few earthly men may linger in offices across the universe, but a King is coming. Every generation has to prepare for a King. Every bride has her day when the whole gathering stands and in aww sees her beauty. Our beauty comes from obedience. Our beauty comes from death. Our beauty comes from humility. Our beauty comes when we are as Ruth, and we leave everything to follow Him. His Bride is wearing her jewels. 

Isaiah 61:10–I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

 

Posted in prophetic, Tekoa Manning, TM

Prophetic Word for the Body and Author Update

Posted on by Tekoa

I wanted to share a prophetic word the Father has been speaking to me of late, but before I get to that, a special update for my readers:

There has been a lot going on with books. Praise the Holy One, my pen was recognized for The spirit of Leviathan, Jezebel, and Athaliah as a distinguished favorite from the independent press awards in the category of Christian.  I will be releasing my new book Jumping for Joy in the midst of Sorrow, hopefully, sooner than later.

Click HERE to order.

Also, Author Tekoa Manning has been getting a makeover, and one well needed! We are editing, revising, and breathing new life into some of my older manuscripts. I am thankful my voice has become more mature since I started writing my Doctrines of Demons Series in 2008 in a notepad. Although there is a lot of good meat in these books, they need some buffeting, tone adjustments, and clarity. 

We have freshly edited my devotional, Thirsting for Water, with some new chapters and a new cover. To purchase, click HERE. 

New clothing is sometimes needed, and that point leads me right into the message Adonai gave me recently.

Prophetic Word 4/23/2021:

Back before 2020 rolled in, I was at a doctor’s appointment in a surgeon’s office. As I was waiting in a chair, a husband and wife in their late 50’s walked in the door that grabbed my attention. They looked as if they had time traveled from 1980. The woman seemed to be dressed in attire I would have worn in high school (telling my age). Her hair was permed, and her eye shadow was frosty blue. She wore a T-shirt with an 80’s rock-band logo and Levi jeans with Nike tennis shoes from that period. Her husband was just as you would picture from 1980. I thought to myself, “They need a makeover.” I instantly heard the Father say, “My Body is getting ready to get a makeover.” I was sort of struck by His words and started imagining what His Body would look like in 2020. I meditated on 2020 vision and a host of makeovers I thought we as His people needed. This was the first year that I did not release a prophetic word for the year.

Later, as the corona/covid virus came about and people began to wear a mask, bleach their homes, and every item, I questioned the Father about His message to me and if I had heard correctly. People were dying alone, and it was a somber time. As I pondered the makeover off and on, I realized many in ministry took to zoom/skype or other outlets to form communities online due to the virus. I did see a peak in gatherings via social media or zoom. I also felt like more people were praying for family, our nation, and Israel. However, I still did not picture the makeover as I had envisioned or heard in my spirit.

My husband and I have a small group we meet with on Wednesday nights for book club, prayer, and fellowship via zoom. As we came into 2021, we started trying to fix some issues with my website and delete older blogs, videos, and podcast that were outdated.

I permanently deleted my Facebook account and recently opened a brand new one. We also decided to go through three of my seven books meticulously. Several had been freshly edited years ago, but others needed a facelift. We then decided to give the books needing a facelift, new covers. I said, “It’s as if we are getting a makeover” which reminded me of Abba’s message at the doctor’s office.

Our Father is the Great Physician and the Surgeon whose Words can circumcise our hearts. My doctor’s name is Farmer. His Jewish name given to him by a Rabbi is Abraham. The seed of Abraham, tilling the soil, planting good seeds that produce good fruit and bringing our firstfruits to Him is what’s needed.

As I was meditating on the makeover and asking the Father what he was trying to show me and why the makeover had not happened in 2020, He began to reveal more profound things concerning makeovers. If you decide to remodel your bathroom or kitchen, it has to be gutted first. Construction starts with removing old sinks and bathtubs, old flooring (foundation), old wallpaper, and cabinets. We update the places we bake bread in by getting a new stove, or the place we keep food fresh by getting a new refrigerator. The Father was showing me rooms that were complexly gutted and stripped. When remodeling begins, things become brand new gradually. Electricians come and bring new light fixtures. Plumbers come and unclog drains. Think refreshing makeover. 

The couple I had seen at the doctor would need to visit a hairstylist, a fashion or clothing expert. All their old garments would be removed. The old makeup would be washed off, and the hair would be cut, colored, and polished. But first, they would have to strip off the old to get a refreshing new look. Stripping and revealing ourselves requires careful time looking in the mirror (introspection) with new eyesight and vulnerability, we begin to work on our wedding garments.

When we have 2020 vision, we see what needs to be changed. It is like the person who suddenly realizes their thinking is Greek, and they need new Hebraic spectacles. Or a house that needs cleaned and stripped bare so the designer, the Great I AM, can begin to beautify His Body–cleanse, adjust the lens, and bring unity, maturity, and a willingness to change. Some of us are scared of change! Even scared of new people. We become comfortable in our locations, our routines, jobs, towns, and people around us. We become unsure or fearful of things we lack knowledge in or certain teachings we’ve only heard one point of view or side of. We can even be very suspicious of unlearning things or relearning things. Change takes hard work! When we get a new vision, we know what needs healing, repaired, refreshed, and laid on the altar. We see what needs to be bathed and perfumed and spoken to with healing words and words of correction. 

Sometime before Passover, a dear friend sent me a banner she handmade for me. The banner was breath.  Embroidered deer were leaping and soaring upward to the high places. The banner had the glory cloud, the almond blossoms (Commandments), and the mountain. The verse on the banner was taken from Psalms 29:8-9. I was meditating on His lightning and thunder at the giving of the Torah, the deer giving birth, and the stripping of the forest. 

“The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;

The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth

And strips the forests bare;

And in His temple everything says, “Glory!”

One blog I found brought more enlightenment:

“In Psalm 29, the Holy One brings the storm. And how!

 God is in the thunder, fire, earthquake, and floods. God’s voice is shaking

the desert and snapping trees like twigs. Even the famous “cedars of

Lebanon” are wiped out.

 What’s with all the violence?

 This text resonates with an old Canaanite myth of creation about Baal, the thunder-god who tamed the watery chaos and its wild sea monster to make creation. In Psalm 29’s reboot of that story, it’s the God of Israel who not only tames the chaos, it’s the Holy One who controls it in the first place. ( Genesis 1).

 At the end of the day in verses 10-11, it’s the Holy One who also stills

the storm, bringing strength and Shalom (peace and prosperity) to the

people.”    

Psalm 29 | psalmimmersion 

Sometimes things come that shake us, strip us, and cause us to give birth to early, but Adonai knows what is needed and exactly how to bring a refreshing make over and a new start. He calms the storms and protects us. While reading up on Psalm 29, I found this beautiful message below:

“Eighteen is the value of the Hebrew letters Chet and yod, which together spell the word chai, life. For this reason, 18 is considered the luckiest number. God is mentioned 18 times in both Psalm 29 and the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-21), giving these verses special protective power.” Judaism and Numbers | My Jewish Learning

I hope this ministers to you, and that you, too, see His mighty makeover taking place.

flight pigeon twig
Posted in Passover/ Pesach, Pentecost/ Shavuot, Tekoa Manning, TM, Unleavened Bread

Blankets of Light

Posted on by Tekoa

This morning while sitting outside with coffee, I noticed two birds flying toward me and then over my head. One was dark, resembling a raven. The other was as white as a dove. I stopped, mesmerized in disbelief. They flew side by side like friends on a journey. In swift thought, my brain asked, “Was that a white dove? No, surely not.” I gazed up again steadily, and just before they passed over my house, the birds’ wings fan out above me. They are as white as snow and as black as soot. I am awe-struck. My mind then began calculating events concerning an Ark and Noah, Elijah, and the ravens that fed him. Soon I am meditating on a Lamb and a Ruach Wind that appeared and descended like a dove on our Messiah–A dove whose white wings flapped mightily over the waters when HaShem said, “Let there be LIGHT” (Genesis 1:3). Out of thick darkness, light was born.

“In your days (Job), have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place, that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?” (Job 38:12-13, BSB).

Sometimes light stands in front of darkness. Sometimes a dove and a blackbird take flight side by side. There were two men on a cross next to Messiah–one cried out for light, and one remained in darkness.

And one of the evil-doers who were hanged was speaking evil of Him, saying, “If You are the Messiah, save Yourself and us.” But the other, responding, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear Elohim, since you are under the same judgment?”

–Luke 23:39-40, BSB

Light stands before darkness every day in multiple situations, weighing much less than my description above. We are candles. We are to shine. “But if your eye is evil, all your body shall be darkened. If, then, the light that is within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23, ISR). Evil eyes. What a concept. How we look at others through our eye gate can be with light or with darkness.  Yeshua said, “No one lights a lamp and covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he sets it on a stand, so those who enter can see the light” (Luke 8:16). A Lamb, the Light of the World, stood in the midst of darkness and did not open His Mouth.  “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7, BSB).

Picture our words as blankets of light. Every soul on this planet was created with a divine flame inside them, even those who walk with evil eyes. Have you ever heard a conversation or watched a scene play out before your eyes that was so grievous, your whole insides were weeping, but on the outside, you could not flinch or appear at all like the conversation or surroundings you found yourself in bothered you? Perhaps it was a holy day on a sacred calendar that no one close to you realized was sacred. Maybe it was a death and burial of a soul created in the image of light that no one could find words to bring that were reminiscent of describing the person’s days under the sun. The people wore black, but no one spoke of the light that once shined out of the eyes of the person who now has left this place for another.

We must bring the light on our tongues.

Maybe you weep inside over a child you failed to teach properly– harmed by divorce, abuse, lack of attention, and instruction who now stands before you broken?

We must wrap them in light and hold them in love.

Maybe your grief is a date on a calendar. “You may have six months, or a year to live.” The doctors pronounce death over you, but you stand strong for your family. Inside, you are a grieving person trying to dance with your son, daughter, or spouse until your future is revealed. You drink in smiles and words, grasping them in your heart while holding on to faith and life in Messiah. A dark report does not put out your flame.

We must stand with our wicks trimmed and our lamps full of oil.

Possibly your grief erupts over a dark world you see filled with unrest, disease, idols, death, and lusts of the flesh boiling over in a pot of filth. But what if you saw the opposite too? The smile of a child in innocence. A butterfly landing beside you to remind you of transformation. The buds on the trees. Flowers popping up in colorful hues, red birds singing and wild violets poking their heads up through a field, a sun bursting forth to welcome the day as you thank Abba for coffee, tea, a breath.

Sometimes the light and darkness mingle, and this union causes a taint. Leading up to Passover, one year, I emptied half a bottle of 100% pure maple syrup with half a bottle of cheap pancake syrup. I was busy removing hametz. The Holy One said, “Bonnie you just mixed the holy with the profane.” I was horrified, but the Father was showing me more profound things.

“Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness? Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says יהוה, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you and I shall be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says יהוה the Almighty” (II Corinthians 6:14, 17-18, ISR).

What is unclean right now during the feasts of unleavened bread is bread. Why? Because the Holy One said do not eat bread for seven days. Eat matzah for seven days. These are the Father’s appointed feasts. If our earthly fathers told us not to eat bread as a child, we would do good to obey them. How much more the One who created LIGHT?

“‘These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The Lord’s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast'” (Leviticus 23:4-6, BSB).

A Sacrifice is something we give up for something else. Our Messiah gave up His life for us. We give up yeast for unleavened bread.

“For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you” (Jeremiah 7:22-23, BSB).

Adonai’s point was not to command them in the ways of offerings and sacrifices but to obey His Voice. Shema. Sometimes this looks strange to others.

A sacrifice is about us and not an animal. Many times we are in situations that cause us to make a sacrifice. We sacrifice a party, wedding, or event to rest in His Sabbath, or we sacrifice bread for a striped, scorched piece of matzah. In this sacrificial place of obedience, we notice that we are a peculiar people set apart to HaShem. The One who sent the darkness, palpable darkness, would also send an angel of death.

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”

So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else, and for three days, no one left his place. Yet all the Israelites had light in their dwellings” (Exodus 10:21-23, BSB).

We have all found ourselves at work, a social setting, a party, a family gathering, or an event where darkness showed up. Darkness cloaked and draped in thick glee. Darkness wearing light like an angel. Darkness boasting in neon colors. Black draped words that fly and soar with edges– sharp points that stab and pierce. Words swathed in prideful mocking like Pharaohs or one of the thieves on the cross. Strange chatter where teeth bite and we chew people into pieces in one sentence and then try to mend them on sewing machines like a garment we’ve ripped in two like an offering or a dove with its head wrung off. We see the darkness in those around us as familiar and remember our own dwellings and journeys of learning the difference between the mundane and the holy. We recognize that we, too, have darkness that we battle. We realize we have far to go when compared to a Lamb that did not open its mouth.

white lamb on road

Photo-Nadia Supertino

When we are obedient and sacrifice our flesh on the altar, we are a sweet smelling fragrance unto Him.  “And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:14-15, BSB).

Darkness shows up during seasons and appointed times. But darkness also reveals light. Are we learning about light in the darkness? Are we bathing and cleansing our eyeballs in light? Are we able to not open our mouth in the midst of darkness, mocking and scorn, like a lamb–a lamb we ate in haste that then resided in our bellies. Did you know Adonai made darkness His covering?

“And He bowed the heavens and came down, And thick darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a keruḇ, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His covering; Around Him His booth, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him, His thick clouds passed, hail and coals of fire.” (Psalm 18:9-12, ISR).

Kisha Gallagher author at Grace in Torah has an anointed blog on darkness and light that I feel everyone would do well to read. I had a disturbing dream months ago depicting darkness and light. Her blog post titled What the Darkness Reveals brought healing and revelation to my soul. You can find it HERE. Before I wrap up this post on light and darkness, I want to direct you back to the two birds. Unbeknownst to me, I learned that there could be albino blackbirds from my husband. A blackbird with a pigment deficiency becomes white.

See the source image

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:19, BSB).

We can often look white as a dove but be a blackbird with a skin issue—this is one topic I have written about often and more for my own good. It is the same issue that made Miriam white as snow. Lashon Hara/the evil tongue–leprosy. Words are more powerful than we know.

“All the evils that men cause to each other because of certain desires, or opinions, or religious principles, are rooted in ignorance. [All hatred would come to an end] when the earth was flooded with the knowledge of God.” – Maimonides

The earth flooded with knowledge of a Holy God. A fearful Ruler and Creator of all life sent a dove with an olive branch in its mouth. What if we carried that olive in our mouth?

During the Omer count, a count that we are commanded to do by Elohim, we count up to the 49th/50th day of Pentecost or Shavuot in Hebrew. The Holy Spirit fell in the book of Acts as tongues of fire. Oh, how our tongues need to be baptized in fire. Oh, how we need sweet water and not bitter. Even when we think we are speaking life, correction, and encouragement, it is possible to speak death due to our own ignorance, pride, pain, or fears.

Sometimes light shines so brightly it hurts eyes and causes people to place their hands over their face–their fingers in their ears, or run away. Sometimes truth is so loud it is like wind that knocks us down. Sometimes we see through the lens of grief. We open our arms and hug people we see as blind, deaf, having tongues that need coals from the altar. We hold them close because we love them so, and we bathe them in all the light we have to give in that moment knowing we too deal with our own evil tongues and puffed up yeast. Perhaps the darkness senses our light and is changed in some way spiritually. Maybe we receive light from those we see bathed in yeasty darkness. Perchance we notice what is in our own hearts?

clear glass bulb on human palm

Photo Rohan Makhecha

May we see the dove this Shavuot/ Pentecost. May we be a blackbird with skin clothed in light pigments that turn us whiter–brighter. May our leprosy be cleansed as Moses cried out concerning his sister, “Heal Her!, we picture the Body of Yeshua and cry out too. May we wrap ourselves in chesed and loving-kindness that bubbles forth without our left hand knowing what our right hand is doing. May we eat unleavened bread with purpose and not rote. May we count up to the comforter, the Ruach Wind that hovers over our heads and purifies our hearts and burns the dross off our tongues which no man can tame. May we hold up two loaves of bread and shout for joy at the promise of redemption, the comforter, and the Messiah.

“My little children, I write this to you, so that you do not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Intercessor with the Father, יהושע Messiah, a righteous One.

And He Himself is an atoning offering for our sins, and not for ours only but also for all the world.

And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commands.

The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked” (I John 2:1-6, ISR).

person holding plate of pancakes
Posted in #Heart Matters, Anointing, Tekoa Manning

The Head of John

Posted on by Tekoa
funny dog with glasses and book
Photo by Samson Katt on Pexels.com

My grandparents gathered in one-roomed buildings of their communities to sing hymns, pray and read the Bible every Sunday. They called the Messiah by the name Jesus. They knew nothing of the 7th day Sabbath. My grandparents and parents had no knowledge of a Mikvah but went humbly down to a river. They were baptized by a pastor who had no Hebrew or Greek at his finger-tips. They kept the Ten Sayings which they called commandments. They had no Tzitzit hanging from the 4-corners of their garments. If one were to say the word Shema, they would have said, “what?” When someone in their community was hungry, without clothing, sick, or had died, they came together–echad. If I were a betting woman, I would almost guarantee that they were a holier, less desensitized, humbler people than us today. Their heads were not puffed up with a knowledge that lacked humility. 

They opened their hymnals and in one voice sang, 

“What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

  • Oh! precious is the flow
  • That makes me white as snow;
  • No other fount I know,
  • Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

“And Yoḥanan (John) was also immersing in Ayin (Aenon) near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. And they were coming and were being immersed,” (John 3:23, ISR).

Most are aware of John baptizing in the Jordan River. Aenon or Ayin is only mentioned once in the Bible. Ayin is the 16th letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet, and it means to see, understand, and be obedient and salvation. It is a pictograph of an eye with a numerical value of 70. John was immersing in Ayin. HalleluYah. The word “Enon,” or “Aenon,” means “a fountain.” In Greek, Aenon/Ayin means fountains and many waters.

“And John also was baptizing in Aenon,… The Syriac and Persic versions call it “Ain,” or “In you,” the fountain of the dove, and the Arabic version reads it, the fountain of “Nun”: (Gill’s exposition). Nun is the 14th Hebrew letter and means seed and faithfulness.  

The dove’s fountain sounds so beautiful and is something I believe the Body of Messiah needs. We need the fountain of Living Water and the dove/ Holy Spirit. We need humility. John tells those gathered around him that he must decrease. The Messiah must increase. A simple message with a fountain of water behind it. What does that look like in the Body? His House?

flight pigeon twig
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

 “And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He (Yeshua) is baptizing and all the people are coming to Him.” (John 3:26, NASB). All the people are coming to HIM. Oh, what a fountain of sweet springs. The one created and anointed to announce the Lamb and immerse Him is going to fade into the background and decrease so Yeshua Messiah can increase. John was immersing them in the Ayin so they could see.

 “John replied, “A person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (John 3:27, NASB). From heaven—. “He who comes from above is above all; the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all” (John 3:31, NASB).

 One day Yeshua will straighten out all our earthly knowledge and Rabbinical knowledge and the things we think we know. One day we will weep over what our lips have said and our Biblical arguments and puffed up yeast that our sticky fingers keep playing with like a tar baby.  One day we will fall facedown and know that One from the heavens is speaking. This Messiah is so full of mercy that He will wipe the tears from our Ayin and wash us in His Fountain springs like a dove because we will see our righteous acts can be as filthy menstrual cloths. Yes, even among the most humble.

John then says something significant in verse 34. “For He whom God has sent speaks God’s words; for God does not give the Spirit with limitations.”

“For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God [proclaiming the Father’s own message]; for God gives the [gift of the] Spirit without measure [generously and boundlessly]!” (John 3:34, AMP). 

John must decrease. Yeshua must increase. We must decrease. No man will get Adona’s Glory. 

How do we as a people decrease? How do we articulate Ayin, a place where we see and don’t speak. A place where we are immersed in fountains of a dove? How do we remove ourselves and place all the glory on our King?

Two birthday parties occur in the Bible: Pharaoh had a birthday party. “On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence, he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker” (Genesis 40:20). Pharaoh lets the birds eat the head of the baker. Herod has a birthday party and removes the head of John the Baptist. “On Herod’s birthday, however, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” Herod’s name means to tremble, to be a coward.

John came in the spirit of Elijah to announce the Messiah and prepare the Way of salvation. John was so hated for his words that his head was severed entirely off his neck. Can you see John bowing his humble head as the sword came down and removed it? Can you see his head sitting on a platter one might display meat on? May we eat the MEAT of John. May we decrease. May He increase. Do we speak words like John that cause people to want to take our heads clean off? What manner of man was this? Yeshua describes John like this:

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? ( a coward—a man who changes his position, an erratic, double-minded man like Herod) Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear fine clothing are found in kings’ palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:

‘Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way before You.'” (Matthew 11:7-11).

Oh, friends, sometimes we need to be immersed in Ayin. Sometimes we need to be cleansed, humbled, and willing to allow the One more qualified than us to do the immersing. Are we becoming more holy with our knowledge or more arrogant? How can we be a light to a dying, broken world? How can we begin to decrease? Can we bring messages with rich and beautiful knowledge and be so removed that the people only see Him? May our heads be severed entirely off. May we decrease so much that the only one others see is Yeshua Messiah, Jesus the Christ.

Sources:

https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Ayin/ayin.html

https://biblehub.com/commentaries/john/3-1.htm

pink cherry blossoms
Posted in Luz Bone, Tekoa Manning, TM

I Luz You and Almonds

Posted on by Tekoa

This blog on the Luz bone was written around 2017 and shared on Grace in Torah. After closing my website Obadiah’s Cave, I am uploading many of these blogs that I feel have worth. I pray it blesses you.

Have you ever pondered how all the graves will open? Not when, but how? Will we come up out of the sea—the earth—an urn? Even the people who sharks have eaten? The graves will open on “that day.” Bodies shipwrecked at sea—bodies waiting in pine boxes under the earth—and ash remains tucked inside urns will all give up their dead. When studying resurrection, consider the Luz bone, a bone that is said cannot be crushed, burned, or destroyed. The Father presents Ezekiel with a question concerning bones: 

“Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.’ “Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. ‘I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the LORD.”

—Ezekiel 37:3-6, NASB

Image result for luz bone

The rabbi’s claim there is a bone in our brains that never deteriorates. They say it cannot be burned, crushed, or broken. What does this bone have to do with the tassels that hang off a Jewish prayer shawl with four corners called a tallith? Much. The first place we read about the wings of this prayer shawl is after the Father delivers his people from Egypt: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself” (Exodus 19:4, NASB). 

sakura tree
Photo by Oleg Magni on Pexels.com

Isaiah, Chapter 11, gives a prophetic glimpse of a future time when the Father will gather t banished/dispersed ones from the four corners of the earth. In the Book of Numbers, Adonai gives special instructions for a prayer shawl and its four corners having tassels called tzitzit: 

The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.”

—Numbers 15:38-39, NASB

The color blue is my husband’s favorite color, and it’s also the color of most of his clothing. As I was thinking about how to go about describing a color so blue that it turns green in the sunlight and then bluer than a violet purple mixed with seawater, I lost the ability to express such splendor. This dye was created by an animal that went extinct thousands of years ago.

According to the Talmud, the dye of Tekhelet (a shade of blue) was produced from a marine creature known as the Ḥillazon (also spelled Chilazon).

A one of a kind color. However, about twenty years ago, Israeli divers discovered this same mollusk in the Red/ Reed Sea. The blue dye is made by extracting a thick liquid from a gland in the mollusk to produce the brilliant dye. Why would such a color be important? Everything HaShem does is intricate and has a deeper meaning behind it. This dye was used for the priestly garments–the temple tapestry and the tallit (Prayer shawl).

HaShem gives special instructions about a prayer shawl and four corners with tassels called Tzitzit. I started meditating on these four corners and the earth.

“The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue” (Numbers 15:38-39 NASB).

A cord of heavenly sapphire blue–the color of Yahweh’s Glory.

“And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness” (Exodus 24:10 KJV).

After the Father instructs them, He tells them why they need these tassels. The King James Version has translated the tassels as “fringes,” however, they are called Tzitzit, also called tzitziyot. `

“It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord (Adonai,) so as to do them and not ­­­­­-­­follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, so that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God” (Numbers 15:39-40).

 The word Tzitzit means BLOSSOM. It’s like the rod of Aaron that budded and bloomed. These blossoms will bring forth fruit. How? When we keep the Commandments, we bear fruit. When we honor His Torah by not just knowing it but doing it, we bear much fruit.

Most of Yeshua’s Body is familiar with the Ten Commandments (Ten Sayings), but many may not know there are 613 Commandments wrapped up in The Ten. 

The first place we read about these prayer shawls’ wings is after the Father saves His people from Egypt. “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself” (Exodus 19:4).

The Rabbis teach that each arrangement of tassels should be seven white threads and one blue thread. For more information on the significance of the meaning behind the Hebrew numbers 7 & 8, here is a link to Grace in Torah, where you can also find some pretty amazing teachings.

This shawl is used at all significant events, from circumcision to weddings, and yes, even the dead are wrapped up in this garment. Death is something we see Yeshua triumphing over. Yes, death and the grave could not hold our Messiah!

 Let’s see how the Olive tree buries their dead since we were engrafted into it.

“After a person dies, the eyes are closed, the body is laid on the floor and covered, and candles are lit next to the body. The body is never left alone until after burial, as a sign of respect. The people who sit with the dead body are called shomerim, from the root Shin-Mem-Reish, meaning “guards” or “keepers. — In preparation for the burial, the body is thoroughly cleaned and wrapped in a simple, plain linen shroud. The Sages decreed that both the dress of the body and the coffin should be simple, so that a poor person would not receive less honor in death than a rich person. The body is wrapped in a tallit with its tzitzit rendered invalid.” Jewfaq.org

Can you imagine our bodies being wrapped in the Word of Yahweh? Can you imagine all of the Father’s commandments and instructions for a blessed LIFE covering our dead bodies? Our dead bodies will come up out of the grave because Yeshua, our First Fruits, came forth out of the tomb wrapped in the same type of linen shroud and more than likely wrapped in His tallit.

This Tallit is two words, tal meaning tent and lit meaning little. “A little tent” that is like a canopy of protection hidden under His Torah–His commandments. When the shawl is pulled up over the head, it makes a prayer room. Psalms 91 talks about this canopy under the wings of Adonai. “He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings, you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark” (Psalm 91:4).

When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus’ garments, she actually touched the Word of God. These shawls were what a Rabbi such as Yeshua would have worn, not some red Roman robe we see him often pictured as wearing. Many people touched this and were healed. Let’s look at scripture for certainty.

“Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe (Tzitzit) of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured” (Mark 6:56).

Scriptures concerning these four wings also discuss a time of latter days.

“But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun (Servant) of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 4:1-2).

Yeshua is talking about Jacob’s trouble, and He says after the tribulation, we will see the sign of Him.

“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:30-31).

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back its four winds so that no wind would blow on land or sea or on any tree” (Revelation 7:1).

So as I was meditating on the four corners of the earth and visualizing this mighty wind sweeping people up like a Hollywood production of tornado or Aliens, I decided it wouldn’t be like that at all. Didn’t the Son come to a carpenter from a rough place called Nazareth (Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?) And weren’t His parents so ordinary no one would make room for the delivery of the chosen One? Didn’t He ride on a humble donkey? Yes, but we have all these motion pictures and left behind series that have altered our thinking.

“According to the Zohar—an early Kabbalistic text—the resurrection will take place forty years after the arrival of Moshiach (Messiah). However, certain righteous individuals will arise with the coming of Moshiach (Messiah). All the dead will be resurrected in the Land of Israel.”

Notice the number 40 and all it entails.

So let’s get back to this death, and this body rolled up in a little tent—the wings of Yahweh and His mighty Torah protecting even our bones.

According to Aish.com, “Jewish tradition records that with burial, a single bone in the back of the neck never decays. It is from this bone – the luz bone – that the human body will be rebuilt in the future Messianic era when the souls of the departed will be reunited with their bodies.”

Yes! A BONE CALL THE LUZ.

I’m doing a snoopy dance right now!

YES! The Rabbi’s claim there is a bone in our brains that never disintegrates. They say it cannot be burned, crushed, or broken. But this gets deeper. Remember the Tzitzit? Those fringes that hung down that were braided and were referred to as almond buds or blossoms? Well, something else has the same meaning.

The word LUZ in Hebrew means nut or almond. So our brain even blossoms with the mind of Christ, our Yeshua Messiah.

The luz and the tallit with its Tzitzit represent an almond seed- a blossom—blooming and producing fruit and, yes, rising up out of the earth. It is believed by the Rabbi’s that this bone is strengthened and gains sustenance from a meal eaten called the Melave Malka. What is this strange word about?

“ Melaveh Malkah is the name of a meal that, as per halakha, is customarily held by Jews after their Sabbath, in other words, on Saturday evening. The intent of the meal is to figuratively escort the “Sabbath Queen” on her way out via singing and eating, as one would escort a monarch upon his departure from a city. This meal is alternatively called “the fourth meal.”

We must get back to His Holy Days and Feast. It was never Sunday.

And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (Mark 14:24-26)

This is new beginnings with the Messiah and the 8th day and the fullness of our new Kingdom filled with awe and glory unspeakable and unattainable in thought. More joy than one has ever felt. I can’t wait!

I LUZ my Yeshua, the One who died so we might have LIFE!

Sources:

The mystical bone of resurrection, Shapiro R., 1987, Department of Radiology, University of Miami School of Medicine, accessed 5 April 2014

http://pubs.rsna.org/doi/abs/10.1148%2Fradiology.163.3.718#comments

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melaveh_Malkah

http://www.aish.com/ci/sam/48936292.html

Pictures: talentshare.org

shallow focus of clear hourglass
Posted in America, Tekoa Manning, TM

The Clocks Were Striking 13

Posted on by Tekoa
https://youtu.be/Gof-gu8vfeQ

The military has many cadences that are sung during marching, and When I was a younger girl around five or six years old, we sang a song in my Sunday School class called “I’m in the Lord’s Army.” Here are the beginning of the lyrics:

“I may never march in the infantry.
Ride in the cavalry
Shoot the artillery
I may never shoot for the enemy.
But I’m in the Lord’s army!”

We may have never been enlisted in the military in the natural, but we are an army–His army. Ezekiel saw a valley of dry, dead bones and HaShem asked him if that army could live. He said, “Oh, Lord Adonai only You know.” He then was told to prophesy over those dry, dead bones, and they became an army dressed and prepared. We need to know how to shoot and fire at the enemy—We need to put on the armor of Elohim. (Ephesians 6). 

Those who are in the military have a uniform and rank. They know their titles (identity), where they are stationed, and how to use all the equipment given to them. We have entry-level up the command chain in the army–Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Sergeant first class, and Sergeant Major, to name a few. 

 “The locusts have no king, Yet go they forth all of them by bands” (Proverbs 30:27). Even the locusts have an order/rank. Does a Private arise in the military and say, “I cannot put my uniform on today and prepare because I am not a Corporal? No. Does a private look the other way and not salute a higher ranking official? No. 

We are servants of Elohim. We are also in His “Army.” The word army is ḥa·yil, and it means strength. In Exodus 18, Moses chose able (ha.yil) men and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.  

A man recently shared a dream he had where he heard the call for Reveille. What is Reveille?

“Reveille” is a bugle call, trumpet call, drum, fife-and-drum or pipes call most often associated with the military; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise” (Wiki).

Reveille is said to start at 7 a.m., but it may be as early as 5 a.m.

Clocks generally work on a 24-hour system for telling time. Soldiers are to be dressed and ready when the trumpet sounds.

Are we unprepared for 13 o’clock?

George Orwell’s famous novel 1984 begins with,

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

1984 seems to be creeping upon us, but I wanted to share a different story about clocks striking 13:

“There is an 18th-century London legend of a clock that struck thirteen times and saved a man’s life. The story goes that St Paul’s Cathedral clock on one occasion struck thirteen bongs of the bell at midnight, with the result of saving the life of a soldier accused of sleeping at his post. An obituary notice of a John Hatfield that appeared in the Public Advertiser a few days after his death states that a soldier in the time of William III and Mary II was tried by a court-martial on a charge of having fallen asleep when on duty upon the terrace at Windsor. It goes on to say that he categorically denied the charge against him. He swore as a proof of his having been awake at the time that he heard St Paul’s Cathedral clock strike thirteen, the truth of which was much doubted by the court because of the great distance. Affidavits were made by several persons verifying that the clock actually did strike thirteen instead of twelve, and the soldier was pardoned.” (Arthur’s Home Magazine. 42: 290. 1874)

1 Thessalonians 5:1-10 explains that the day of the Lord Adonai will come as a thief in the night. 

“A thief in the night” is a Hebrew idiom. This is not about a thief we would see on television breaking into a home.  

“An overseer was appointed over all the watches of guards. He was called: “The officer of the Temple Mount.”Throughout the night, he checked on all the watches. Torches were lit before him. If a guard did not stand before him and greet him: “Peace be unto you, officer of the Temple Mount,” he would assume that he was sleeping and would strike him with his staff. He was even granted permission to burn [a sleeping guard’s] clothing.

Thus, it was commonly said in Jerusalem: “What is the noise in the Temple Courtyard [at night]? It must be the voice of a Levite being beaten and his clothes burned because he slept on his watch.” (Chabad).

The Levites were stationed like soldiers at their post. The priests would guard the fire on the altar to keep it burning throughout the night to be ready for the morning sacrifice. The fire could not go out. Has ours?

 The Book of Revelations gives us a picture of this: (Revelation 16:15) “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

Saint (Apostle) Paul’s bell is sounding. The High Priest will come and make His rounds at a time when we may not be aware. 

(Mark 13:35) “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning.”

(Ephesians 5:14–)

 “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” We must keep our fires burning. We must be awake and ready with our oil lamps full of pressed pure oil, our garments washed and ironed so that when we hear the call of Reveille, we will not sleep through it. 

Each nation’s military has its own lyrics and song to sing titled Reveille. Sadly, America seems to be the only one where everyone is lazy and refuses to get out of bed, even the elite. America’s reveille song sounds like the cry of the prophet Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others:

“I can’t get ’em up,

I can’t get ’em up,

I can’t get ’em up this morning;

I can’t get ’em up,

I can’t get ’em up,

I can’t get ’em up at all!

The corporal’s worse than the privates,

The sergeant’s worse than the corporals,

Lieutenant’s worse than the sergeants,

And the captain’s worst of all!

I can’t get ’em up

I can’t get ’em up

I can’t get ’em up this morning;

I can’t get ’em up

I can’t get ’em up

I can’t get ’em up at all!

And tho’ the sun starts peeping,

And dawn has started creeping,

Those lazy bums keep sleeping,

They never hear my call!”

THEY NEVER HEAR THE CALL. 

May we hit our knees during this time and be spared as the soldier who heard the 13th strike of the clock to inform the judge he was not sleeping on his watch. It is time for “Watchmen to arise.” 

(Luke 21:36)

“But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:6)

“So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”

May the dead rise first indeed!

Blessings,

Tekoa

 

 

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reveille

https://www.chabad.org/dailystudy/rambam.asp?tdate=12/6/2020&rambamChapters=3

Lord’s Army song: http://www.divinehymns.com/lyrics/i-may-never-march-in-the-infantry-song-lyrics/