The Feast of First Fruits or Yom HaBikkurim for Audio Book

Lynn Marie Brunk has finished recording Unveiling the Messiah in the Spring Feasts and Fall Feasts. These audio books should be available in early March. This blog is a chapter accompaniment with graphs that was not recorded on the Spring Feasts.

The 24 Elders

Part 2

Multiple books and teachings have been written about the 24 elders mentioned in Revelation 4. We are told in verse 4 that these 24 elders have crowns upon their heads: “Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads” (Revelation 4:4, BSB). Some believe these are angels, but angels do not wear crowns, and we are told the 24 elders will lay their crowns at His feet. I believe these could represent the righteous ones starting with the priestly order, Noah being the 8th proceeding to Melchizedek, and continuing to the Messiah, see (Hebrews 7:11, BSB). Well-known scholars such as Chuck Missler and Micheal Rood equate these 24 elders to the dead who were resurrected during the death of our Messiah. Their proof text comes from Matthew 27:

When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He yielded up His spirit. At that moment, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people.

—Matthew 27:50-53, BSB

We read nothing more concerning these saints. Curiously, Watchmen were divided into 24 orders to guard the holy mount, and David in the Book of I Chronicles, along with Zadok and Ahimelech, divided the priestly elders into their offices according to their service and they numbered 24. There were 12 tribes of Israel and 12 apostles.

Zadok was elevated to the position of High Priest after David became the king. King David instructed Zadok, along with Abiathar and the Levites, to move the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Obed-Edom to a tent set up for it on Mt. Zion. Following this, Zadok was assigned to officiate at Gibeon, while Abiathar, the other high priest, ministered in Jerusalem.

Upon deeper study, I had an epiphany that the priestly names in I Chronicles might hold great prophetic insight. While researching, I received confirmation behind each name of the 24 Elders and the hidden meaning of each name in order of service. Throughout the Bible, people’s names meant something, and they were more tangible than some of the more straightforward names we give our children today. A name back then was not just a title, but the name defined the person. It highlights the character, integrity, and future of a person. Jacob’s name was changed from “supplanter” (trickster) to “Israel,” which means “Triumphant with Yahweh” or “He retains God.” Jacob started out deceiving and stealing his brother Esau’s birthright, but after wrestling with an angel all night, he received a new name that fit his new character.

After pondering these twenty-four men and their names, I set out to tediously look up each Priestly name and its Hebrew meaning in the chronological order given from the Word of God. What I found was astounding:

Now, the divisions of the descendants of Aaron were these: the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.  But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.  David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices for their ministry. Since more chief men were found from the descendants of Eleazar than the descendants of Ithamar, they divided them thus: there were sixteen heads of fathers’ households of the descendants of Eleazar and eight of the descendants of Ithamar, according to their fathers’ households.

—I Chronicles 24:1-4, NASB

I Chronicles explains that David and Zadok divided the priest by lots, and the first lot came to be for Jehoiarib.  To simplify this teaching, I have made a graph below that shows the names of the priestly order in English and Hebrew, and, lastly, the meaning of their names. Each definition comes from Abarim Publications or Strongs Concordance:

English Name            Hebrew Name              Meaning

In the graph above, Yeshua is number nine. His very Name means salvation.  When we back up to number eight, we find none other than the order of Abijah. John the Baptist’ father was in that division: 

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

—Luke 1:5, NASB

Yeshua would be baptized by John in the Jordan and His Father’s Voice announced that this was His Son and He was well pleased.  Yeshua is our salvation, and that required a beating that was so severe his organs were exposed, and he was unrecognizable according to the words of the prophet Isaiah. “So His appearance was marred more than any man” (Isaiah 52:14, NASB).  He was on the cross, and at one point, Yeshua begins to cry out to His Father:

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

—Matthew 27:45-46, BSB

Hebrew teacher, author, and scholar, Dr. Skip Moen explains that Yeshua uttered “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me,” at his death because his audience would have known exactly what passage he was uttering. In Yeshua’s time, the Psalms were not numbered as they are today.  They were titled by the first line. Therefore, announcing “My God, My God” was like saying, “All of you remember the words of Psalm 22:

If Jesus wants the men at the foot of the cross to recall Psalm 22, what else is there to know?  When we look deeply at Psalm 22, we find that hazav (forsaken) is not the major theme.  Psalm 22 is about deliverance (v. 8), sovereignty (v. 9), rescue (v. 11), comfort (v. 19), salvation (v. 21), praise (v. 23), satisfaction (v. 26), prosperity (v. 29) and finally righteousness (v. 31).  It starts with the lament of the afflicted and abandoned, but it ends with a pantheon of victorious praise.  What begins with a cry of destitution ends in confident assurance that the God of the righteous prevails. ^[1]

Continuing in I Chronicles 24, the next priestly office is Sh’khanyahu and means “Yahweh has heard.” While Yeshua was on the cross, we learn Yeshua cried out in agony, but as we continue reading Psalms 22, we find the answer later in the passage:

A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.” Once we get to verse twenty-four, we see that His Father did indeed hear Him. “Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.

—Psalm 22:24, NASB 

He heard! Sh’khanyahu means “Yahweh has heard.”

The eleventh lot fell upon Elyashiv. His name means “To turn back and to restore.” The Father was sending His Son to restore the covenant that His bride had broken. The Holy One had written His people a certificate of divorce and sent them away, but now they could return. “I noted that when backsliding Israel committed adultery I sent her away and gave her a certificate of divorce” (Jeremiah 3:8, TLV).   This is why Yeshua said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24, NASB). He speaks more about this in other passages:

So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?

—Acts 1:6, NASB

Continuing in I Chronicles 24, the twelfth (12) Elder, Jakim, should cause us to shout with joy upon hearing the meaning of his name—Yah (God) is raising up!  And our Father did by raising His Son, Yeshua on the third day.  Yes, our mighty Savior, Yeshua Messiah, was like Jonah in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, but the Bible tells us that he arose from the dead:

this Yeshua, given over by God’s predetermined plan and foreknowledge, nailed to the cross by the hand of lawless men, you killed.But God raised Him up, releasing Him from the pains of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held by it.

—Acts 2:23-24, TLV

The 13th priestly lot fell on Huppah, also called chuppah and means “A covering.” The huppah is mentioned in the Bible in association with marriage:

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the bridegroom come out of his room And the bride out of her bridal chamber.

—Joel 2:16, AB

The huppah symbolizes the new home to which the bridegroom will take his bride. It is a public declaration that they are man and wife. What a beautiful picture of Yeshua and His Bride, the Church/ assembly of called out Believers.

I am in awe of all the prophetic gold hidden in these names, and I pray you are too. Moving along, we learn the next priestly lot fell upon Jeshebeab, the 14^th lot, which means “Seat of His Father.” We know from scripture that after Yeshua died and arose, He ascended into the glory clouds, and He is indeed sitting at the Right Hand of His Father:

So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

—Mark 1:19, NASB

Can you see the beauty of our Father’s hidden mysteries? Each name will not be expounded on in this body of work, but I will enlighten you that the whole story from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelations is hidden in each name of the 24 Elders. 

Moving down on our graph to the seventeenth division (17) is Hezir meaning “swine or protected.” This priestly name has to do with those who are sealed. Those who have the Holy One’s Name sealed on their foreheads will be protected, but the swine, the lost, will not be protected.  How interesting that the unclean animal, the pigsty where the prodigal son found himself was a place of unprotection. Remember the legion of demons that Yeshua cast out in the Book of Mark? The unclean spirits went into the swine. Hezir’s name is used to describe the swine or those protected as the righteous are marked/sealed:

The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.

—Ezekiel 9:4, NASB 

The 144 thousand are sealed:

And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.

—Revelations 7:1-3, NASB

They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

—Revelations 9:4, NASB

The scattered tribes are spoken of next. The 18^th Elder, Happizzez, which means “scatter or scattering.” Praise the Holy One, Yeshua is the door to the sheep.  “Yahweh opens,” is the hidden meaning behind Pethahiah the 19^th Elder:

 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

—John 10:9-11, TLV

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

—Revelation 3:20, NASB

Meditating on this priestly order in a timeline frame, the following passages cannot be overlooked:

Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.  Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.

—Luke 12:35-36, NASB

To the angel of Messiah’s community in Philadelphia write: I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an   open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

—Revelation 3:8, NASB

But what about the ones He does not open the door for? These will be filled with the greatest sorrow any man has ever felt. Nothing will compare to the grief felt when it’s time for Yeshua to open the door, and a person is met with the following response from the Messiah:

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

—Luke 13:24-30, TLV

Those who were given such dire words told the Messiah that they taught others, did street ministry, and ate and drank in His presence. What a fearful word. They did not even realize that He did not know them intimately. Another verse from Revelations gives instructions for entering the gate, such as washing our spiritual garments, but hints to this season of when the door is shut and who is left outside: “But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie” (Revelation 22:14-15 NKJV). However, remember, we learned in chapter two of this book that the Father offers a second Passover (salvation) because He is a merciful Father, not wanting any to perish. In Matthew 13, concerning the wheat and tares, we learn that the tares will be thrown into the fire. Fire always purifies and removes all the impurities. The Messiah came to give life.

The 22nd priest’s name means “weaned.” Oh, what a glorious day when we are weaned off milk and baby bottles, and we all know the truth, and it is established on the mountains of the Lord Adonai:

They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

—Jeremiah 31:34, NASB

And no more will they teach, each one his fellow citizen and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know Adonai,’ because all will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.

—Hebrews 8:11, TLV

In that day, we will be weaned and taught by the High Priest, our Messiah, the Anointed One.

The last two priestly names and their meanings are, “Drawn up of the Lord Adonai” and “Sheltered.” Hallelujah! We, His Bride, will be drawn up to the glory clouds with Him and sheltered from the storms in the huppah:

Then we who are alive and remain 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 4:17, NASB 

“Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of Him.  Yes, amen!” “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says Adonai Elohim, “Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!”

—Revelation 1:7-8, TLV

These hidden mysteries can be found throughout our Bible. We just need to dig in and search. “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out” (Proverbs 25:2, BSB):

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.  And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.

—Revelation 21:1-4, NASB 

When we read the last two chapters of Revelations, we see how sheltered His people will be, for they will not even need the sun or the moon, for they will all know His calendar in the heavens:

And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.  In the daytime (for there will be no night there), its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it, and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

—Revelations 21:23-27, NASB 

No swine will enter this kingdom, only those who are sealed.  Are you sealed?   I pray today that if you do not know Him who sits on the throne, you will pour your heart out and ask Yeshua (Salvation) to write your name in The Book of Life. I pray you will begin to follow Him and His commandments because He loves you and has a plan for your life.

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[1] Confidence in Desperation | Hebrew Word Study | Skip Moen