Hello, Readers,
I hope this message in the month of Elul blesses you, whether you are a Christian seeking to understand the authors of the Book more deeply, or a follower of the Torah, the Way, or a believer. These distinctions will eventually fade away in the refining fire, where the impurities are removed and we all become one, following our Savior, Jesus/Yeshua.
For the Lord Himself shall come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the blast of God’s shofar, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left behind, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air—and so we shall always be with the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:15-17)
During Elul (Aug/Sept), the shofar is sounded daily (except on the Day of Rest), and Psalm 27 is often recited. Throughout scripture, we notice a connection to introspection and the rebuilding of the 2nd temple during Elul. We are told in the Bible that we are temples.
“Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the [Holy Spirit] Ruach ha-Kodesh who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body” (I Cor. 16:19-20).
This verse does not refer to just our singular body but to HIS BODY as a whole—ONE loaf of bread. “For the body is not one member, but many” (1 Corinthians 12:14). Also, if one member suffers, the whole body suffers. I repeat, the whole body suffers together. if one member is honored, all the members rejoice.
On the sixth month, on the first day of Elul, the Father spoke through the prophet Haggai and told the people to rebuild His House. Elul is the only Hebrew month with no festivals, memorial days, fast days, or celebrations. Elul in Aramaic means “to search.” The Father speaks through the prophet Haggai, whose name means “To celebrate His Feasts.” And the prophet gives a stern message.
The prophet Haggai is an older man by this time. His book is one of the shortest in the Bible, having only around 38 verses.
At the beginning of Haggai, although many Jews had returned and started building businesses and homes, they had not rebuilt the House of the Lord. Many Jews stayed in Persia. A small percentage came back. The Book of Haggai starts on the new moon of Elul, a festival. Blow the ram’s horn at the time of the New Moon…” (Psalm 83:3). God’s people were not worshipping the moon. Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God and that they pour out knowledge. Abraham looked up at the stars, the whole constellation. Elul is during Virgo, think the mother of Jesus/Yeshua.
One of the words for “moon” or “month” is chodesh, renewal. The traditional Jewish blessing over the waxing moon says to the moon: “You are a crown of glory for those who are borne in the womb, for they, like you, are destined to be renewed.” Jewish tradition sees the cycles of the moon as a metaphor for the renewal of life.
Jill Hammer
In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of Adonai came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, [high priest] kohen gadol: “Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: ‘This people say the time has not come—the time for the House of Adonai to be rebuilt.’” Then the word of Adonai came through Haggai the prophet: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this House lies in ruins? 5 But now,” thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Set your heart on your ways! You sowed much but bring in little. You eat but are never satisfied. You drink, but not enough to get filled. You put on clothes, but no one is warm. And whoever earns wages works for a bag full of holes.” Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: “Set your heart on your ways! 8 Go up to the hills, bring wood, and build the House.
(Haggai 1:6, TLV)
OUCH!
Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest. Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together
John 4:35-36
How often have you read the verses above from Haggai and thought, I’m sowing much but not seeing the fruit? I feed on His Word and attend church/assembly and gatherings, but I’m never satiated. My spiritual garments aren’t lighting the wick of my lamp and igniting a flame to warm others. Or I’m earning wages at my job but can barely keep my head above water.
The message is about the work of the Kingdom. That’s not just teaching Biblical knowledge; it’s also about binding up the broken and taking care of the poor, orphans, widows, and those who are sick or in prison. A person can be in prison without ever being behind bars. A person can feel like an orphan who has parents or feel like a widow even with a husband. A person can be sick without having a physical ailment.
“The name Elul comes from a Babylonian original, ululu, which appears to be based on an Akkadian word for harvest. The Hebrew scholars who transliterated this name, however, gave it a striking resemblance to the verb אלל (‘alal), to protrude, and more specifically the identical noun אלול (‘elul), translated as futility (NAS) or a “thing of nought” (KJV), as used in Jeremiah 14:14. Perhaps both this name and this noun reminded the Jews of the act of threshing or winnowing, when the edible and useful was separated from chaff, the proverbial worthless bits of plant that surrounds grain and such.” (Abarim Publications)
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:11-12).
Continuing with Haggai:
On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of Adonai came through Haggai the prophet: 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, kohen gadol, and to the remnant of the people: 3 “Who remains among you who saw this House in its former glory? So how do you see it now? Does it not seem as nothing in comparison in your eyes? 4 But now, Zerubbabel, chazak!”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, kohen gadol, and all people of the land, chazak!”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“and work! For I am with you!”—it is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot. 5 “According to the word I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. My Ruach is standing in your midst. Do not fear!”
Chaim Ben Torah, Hebrew word study, has an interesting article on Chazak. Most know this word from the ending of each book read in the Torah cycle. (1st five books of Moses/ Bible). Chaim breaks it down by using a visual concerning an ax:
Isaiah 41:13: “For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
Hold – Hebrew: chazak – Strengthen, confirm, restore.
Various translations will say that God “upholds” your right hand, some will say he “takes” your right hand and some will say “strengthen” your right hand. The word “hold” is “chazak” in Hebrew which means to strengthen, confirm or restore. I like the word restore. God will restore our strength and power. Still, that does not fully explain chazak. Chazak is to have your strength restored or renewed by the addition of His strength. Like chopping wood, he grabs the ax with you and the combination of your strength and His makes the job seem effortless.[1]
This is a powerful message for all of us and historically, it is fascinating to imagine the work of rebuilding after so many years—100 years.
The Babylonians had invaded and destroyed Jerusalem, including the temple built under King Solomon. The Persians under Cyrus the Great had conquered the Babylonians, and Cyrus decided to let the Israelite’s return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. They were able to get the foundation laid in that first year. But Ezra tells us that, after Cyrus died, a new Persian king, Artaxerxes, ordered that construction of the temple stopped. The temple remained partially complete, until a new king, Darius, ascended to the throne.
God’s people had been gone from Judah for around a 100 years, the majority of Jewish people who were alive in Ezra’s day naturally had no personal attachment to the land of Judah or the temple. They had not brought sheep and goats to sacrifice on the altar. Without a temple, it was impossible to do the sacrifices. After the exile to Babylon, a new type of Hebrew religion with new practices would eventually evolve, Judaism.
Consider going into exile for 70 years. Many of those sent to Babylon had died years before. New generations were now alive, but some did not return to the Land.
“2“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem”
5Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem. 6And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.
(Ezra 1:2-7)
The Jewish encyclopedia gives us a lists of 5 things not present in the 2nd temple that was in the 1st:
“Temple, or Holy Place, seems to have had two veils or curtains at its front (ib. iv. 51). It had also one holy candlestick, a golden altar of incense, and a table of showbread (ib. i. 21, 22). Separated from the Temple by another veil was the Holy of Holies (Josephus, “B. J.” v. 5, § 5). According to Josephus, this contained nothing; but, according to the Mishnah (Mid. iii. 6), the “stone of foundation” stood where the Ark used to be, and the high priest put his censer on it on the Day of Atonement. According to the Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 22b), the Second Temple lacked five things which had been in Solomon’s Temple, namely, the Ark, the sacred fire, the Shekinah, the Holy Spirit, and the Urim and Thummim.” [2]
Today, we need to pray for God’s people. May their eyes be opened to Yeshua Messiah, the High Priest. He is not missing! He is in every piece of furniture and His Holy Spirit has been poured out. The very One they are looking for, The Messiah…may they see HIM during the Fall feasts and May they know Him. May Jospeh’s brothers recognize him and may all the brothers gather together just as when Jacob/ Israel was buried.
“When they came to the threshing floor of the bramble on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there—a very great and solemn lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning ritual at the threshing floor of the prickly bush, they said, “A solemn mourning ritual this is for the Egyptians.” That is why it is named Abel-Mizraim, which is on the other side of the Jordan.” (Genesis 50:10-11)
READ CAREFULLY the rabbinical account:
According to the rabbinical account the sons of Jacob had scarcely crossed the frontier at Abel-mizraim with the body of their father, when their cousins, the sons of Ishmael, Esau, and Keturah, appeared in large numbers against them, believing that the Egyptians, of whom there were many in the procession, intended to invade Palestine. But when they perceived Jacob’s bier, and Joseph’s crown carried behind it in state, the thirty-six princes among them sent their crowns also, to be carried in the funeral procession. Hence the name “Thorn Threshing-floor“; for Abel-mizraim was so encircled by a row of crowns as to remind one of a threshing-floor, which is usually surrounded by a hedge of thorns (Soṭah, 13a; Tan., Wa-yeḥi, 18, ed. Buber, i. 222, and the parallels there cited).
One day we will all lay our crowns down at His Feet.
24 For Messiah did not enter into Holies made with hands—counterparts of the true things—but into heaven itself, now to appear in God’s presence on our behalf. 25 And He did not offer Himself again and again—as the kohen gadol enters into the Holy of Holies year after year with blood that is not his own. 26 For then He would have needed to suffer again and again from the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has been revealed once and for all at the close of the ages—to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this judgment, 28 so also Messiah, was offered once to bear the sins of many. He will appear a second time, apart from sin, to those eagerly awaiting Him for salvation.
Hebrews 9:24-28, TLV
Blessings!
Tekoa Manning
New Rel
[1] https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2012/10/word-study-hold-chazak/[2]https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14309-temple-the-second