YAHUSHA IS ABOUT TO GIVE YISHARAL SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOW THEY ARE TO BEHAVE DURING THEIR BATTLE FOR CANAAN.
THE HEBREW WORD SHEM (NAME) MEANS FAR MORE THAN SIMPLY THE FORMAL FAMILIAR IDENTITY GIVEN TO SOMEONE. IT ACTUALLY MEANS REPUTATION, NATURE OR CHARACTERISTICS, AND TO THE HEBREWS (AND YAHUSHA), NAMES HELD GREAT MEANING BECAUSE EMBODIED WITHIN A NAME WAS A SET OF ATTRIBUTES THE PERSON WITH THAT NAME WOULD BE KNOWN BY AND WOULD BE EXPECTED TO UPHOLD.
SO UNDERSTAND THAT WHEN YAHUSHA IS ORDERING YISHARAL NOT TO WORSHIP OTHER DEITIES IT’S NOT ONLY A MATTER OF THE HEBREWS USING AN INCORRECT NAME TO WORSHIP HIM, IT’S THAT THE CHARACTERISTICS ASSIGNED TO THOSE FALSE-DEITIES ARE POLAR OPPOSITES FROM THE CHARACTERISTICS THAT DEFINE YAHUSHA.
AS MUCH AS WE'RE ALL “LOVE-JUNKIES” AND RECOGNISE THAT THE OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISTIC OF YAHUSHA IS HIS AMAZING LOVE, THAT HARDLY DEFINES ALL OF HIS CHARACTERISTICS. AMONG OTHER THINGS YAHUSHA IS AN ALAHIM OF LIGHT, CREATION, DELIVERANCE, MERCY, JUDGMENT, WRATH, FURY AND GENTLENESS ALSO. HE'S AN ALAHIM WHO IS NEAR, YET ALSO NOT OF OUR WORLD OR UNIVERSE OR EVEN OF OUR DIMENSION. HE IS NOT MERELY A MAN, OR EVEN A SUPER HUMAN; RATHER HE IS AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BEING, TOTALLY UNIQUE. A FIRST-FRUIT CREATION. A BEING WHO CAN SELF-EXIST WITHIN BOTH DIMENSIONS AND ALSO BETWEEN THEM, A BEING OF BOTH FLESH, YET IMMORTAL ALSO. HE CAN SPARK NEW LIFE, PRESERVE IT, AND THEN DESTROY IT ACCORDING TO HIS SOVEREIGN WILL AND PURPOSES. SO FOR US TO EVER ASSIGN HIS NAME TO ANOTHER BEING (IDEA OR MINDSET) WHOSE CHARACTERISTICS ARE GROSSLY DIFFERENT AND INFINITELY INFERIOR, IS A DISGUSTING ABOMINATION OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
People of Yisharal, Yahuah your Alahim will help you take the land of the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. These seven nations have more people and are stronger than Yisharal, but when you attack them, Yahuah will force them out of the land. Then you must destroy them without mercy or without showing them any favour. Don’t make any covenants or peace treaties with them and definitely don’t let your sons and daughters marry any of them. Because if you do, those people will lead your descendants into the worship of other deities and they’ll turn their backs on Yahuah, and that’ll make Him very angry, and He’ll quickly destroy you. So when you conquer these nations, tear down the altars where they worship their false deities. Break down their sacred stones and pillars, cut down their Asherim poles (used in worship of their deity Asherah**), Yes! DESTROY THEIR DEITIES AND THROW THEIR IDOLS IN THE FIRE!
IS THIS ABOUT MERCILESS GENOCIDE? FIRSTLY, NOT EXCUSING OR PARDONING THEIR BEHAVIOURS OR LIFESTYLE MEANS THAT NO AGREEMENTS OR TREATIES ARE TO BE MADE BETWEEN YISHARAL AND THE CANAANITES THAT WOULD ALLOW THEM TO REMAIN AS SOVEREIGN SOCIETIES. IT MEANS THAT YISHARAL IS NOT TO ESSENTIALLY DO WHAT IS ALWAYS DONE IN THESE SITUATIONS AND ALLOW A FOREIGN KING TO REMAIN KING OVER HIS PEOPLE IN RETURN FOR TAXES AND TRIBUTE AND LABOR PAID TO THE CONQUEROR (IN THIS CASE, YISHARAL). FURTHER THOSE CANAANITES WHO REFUSE TO BOW DOWN TO THE ALAHIM OF YISHARAL ARE NOT TO BE ALLOWED TO REMAIN IN THE LAND, RATHER THEY ARE TO BE FORCIBLY EXPELLED AND IF THEY INSTEAD INSIST ON FIGHTING TO THE DEATH, THEIR CHALLENGE WILL BE MET.
DO NOT INTERMARRY WITH THE OUTSIDE NATIONS!. MANY BELIEVE THAT THE HEBREWS DID NOT INTERMARRY AND FOR LONG STRETCHES OF TIME STAYED VERY PURE IN THEIR GENE POOL, BUT NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM EITHER SCRIPTURAL OR HISTORICAL REALITY. HEBREW MEN JUST COULDN’T SEEM TO RESIST THE CHARMS OF THE VARIOUS PAGAN WOMEN AND CONSTANTLY BROUGHT THEM HOME WITH THEM AND INTEGRATED THEM INTO HEBREW SOCIETY. IN THE BOOK OF JUDGES WE SEE EVEN THE GREAT SAMSON MARRY A PHILISTINE WOMAN. THIS, THOUGH, WAS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICE BURG. BECAUSE IN MIDDLE EASTERN CULTURES (YISHARAL INCLUDED), A GIRL DID NOT HAVE MUCH CHOICE IN WHOM SHE MARRIED. HER FATHER MADE THAT DETERMINATION AND OFTEN IT WAS BASED ON HOW BIG OF A GIFT A MAN MIGHT OFFER THE FATHER IN RETURN FOR HIS DAUGHTER’S HAND IN MARRIAGE. THE PROBLEM WITH A HEBREW MAN MARRYING A FOREIGN WOMAN WAS THAT (EXCEPT IN RARE CASES) SHE WOULD BRING WITH HER THE PAGAN WAYS OF HER TRIBE AND ALONG WITH IT THE FAMILY PRESSURE AND INFLUENCE FROM HER KIN FOR HER HEBREW HUSBAND TO AT LEAST BE TOLERANT AND RESPECTFUL OF HER BELIEFS. WE WILL EVENTUALLY SEE THE REVERED KING SOLOMON MARRY LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF FOREIGN WIVES, BE OPENLY TOLERANT OF THEIR WORSHIP OF PAGAN DEITIES, AND EVEN ARRANGE FOR ALTARS TO BE BUILT SO THAT THEY COULD SACRIFICE TO THOSE FALSE IDOLS.
FOR A HEBREW WOMAN TO BE MARRIED OFF TO A FOREIGN MAN WAS A TERRIBLE PREDICAMENT FOR THAT WOMAN BECAUSE ONCE SHE WAS WED TO THAT FOREIGNER SHE LOST HER STATUS AS A YISHARALITE. FURTHER THE CHILDREN THAT SHE BORE WOULD NOW BE CONSIDERED `OUTSIDE NATIONS’ (GENTILES) AND APART FROM YISHARAL. THE REDEMPTION THAT SHE HAD AS A BIRTHRIGHT WAS GONE, AND THE REDEMPTION HER CHILDREN COULD HAVE HAD AS A BIRTHRIGHT WAS ALSO GONE. SO THE EFFECT OF DISOBEYING THE INSTRUCTION NOT TO INTERMARRY WITH ANYONE OF THESE 7 NAMED PEOPLE-GROUPS WAS FAR REACHING.
WHY IS SUCH DRASTIC ACTION BEING CALLED FOR BY YAHUSHA (THE PROHIBITION AGAINST PEACE TREATIES, AGAINST ANY FORM OF TOLERANCE, AND AGAINST INTERMARRIAGE)? BECAUSE THE YISHARALITE CHILDREN (MEANING DESCENDANTS) OF FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL BE DRAWN AWAY FROM YAHUSHA AND INTO IDOLATRY. THIS ISN’T A STATISTIC, AN IDLE THREAT OR A HYPOTHETICAL WARNING. NO! YAHUSHA IS SAYING `IF YOU DO ANY OF THESE THINGS IT IS 100% CERTAIN THAT THE RESULT WILL BE A FALLING AWAY FROM THE TRUE BEHAVIOUR OF WORSHIP INTO AN ADOPTION OF PAGANISM'.
IN THE END, THE FUNDAMENTAL PREREQUISITE FOR YISHARAL’S SURVIVAL IN CANAAN WAS THE EXCLUSIVE WORSHIP OF YAHUSHA. DISOBEDIENCE AND IDOLATRY WOULD AUTOMATICALLY BRING DIVINE CALAMITY AND THE NATURE OF THAT CALAMITY WOULD RANGE FROM CONSTANT HARASSMENT COMING FROM FOREIGNERS, TO FAMINES, TO WICKED YISHARALITE KINGS WHO WERE OPPRESSIVE TO THEIR OWN PEOPLE, AND ON A COUPLE OF OCCASIONS OUTRIGHT EVICTION FROM THE LAND, INTO EXILE. SO MOSES EXPLAINS A COUPLE OF FACTS OF LIFE: FIRST, DON’T GET TOO BIG-HEADED WHEN YOU DO GAIN POSSESSION OF THE LAND BECAUSE IT ISN’T YOUR MIGHT OR MILITARY PROWESS, OR OVERWHELMING LARGE NUMBERS OF SOLDIERS THAT WILL WIN THE DAY. IT IS ONLY BECAUSE YAHUSHA HAS FAVORED YISHARAL (AND DISCRIMINATED AGAINST THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF CANAAN) THAT YISHARAL IS ABLE TO RECEIVE VICTORY IN SUCH A MONUMENTAL TASK. AND SECOND, THIS IS REALLY ALL ABOUT THE FULFILMENT OF AN OATH (A COVENANT) THAT YAHUSHA MADE TO THE PATRIARCHS THAT YISHARAL IS RECEIVING CANAAN AS THEIR SOLE POSSESSION. BUT, MOSES WARNS, ALL OF THIS CAN BE REVERSED FOR A TIME IF THEY FAIL TO OBSERVE HIS INSTRUCTIONS.
TODAY IN THE 21st CENTURY OUR BEHAVIOUR HAS CONSEQUENCES TOO, AND THOUGH YAHUSHA PROMISES TO NEVER LEAVE US OR FORSAKE US, IF WE CHOOSE TO DEFIANTLY DISOBEY HIM WHEN GIVEN A TASK OR PLAN, OR REFUSE TO GIVE UP A BAD HABIT (WHICH WE NOW KNOW IS MODERN-DAY IDOLATRY) CHOOSING TO KEEP THESE SNEAKY, SHINY, ALLURING LUSTS OF OUR FLESH TO OURSELF IN OUR OWN LITTLE PRIVATE LIVES (EVEN JUST OUR THOUGHTS) . . . THEN OUR LOVE WILL START TO GO COLD AND OUR BEHAVIOUR WILL START TO SHIFT (YAHUSHA SAYS `REMEMBER YOUR FIRST LOVE'). OUR CONSEQUENCES FOR DISOBEDIENCE MAY NOT ALWAYS BE ON THE GRAND SCALE OF SCRIPTURE-ERA CALAMITY, BUT WE KNOW WHEN WE ARE DIRTY AND WHEN WE ARE CLEAN AND YAHUSHA IS EITHER PLEASED AND FAVOURABLE TOWARDS US OR ANGRY AT OUR CHOICES. SO IF YOU FEEL YOUR LIFE OR MOODS OR BEHAVIOUR STARTING TO SPIRAL THEN IT'S VITAL TO THROW YOURSELF AT YAHUSHA'S FEET IN REPENTANCE, SURRENDER TO HIM AND HIS PROCESS AND PROMISE THAT YOU'LL BE OBEDIENT . . . COME BACK TO THE EXUBERANCE AND VITALITY OF YOUR FIRST LOVE - DON'T LET YOUR HEART GO HARD AND YOUR LOVE GO COLD THROUGH EVIL, FOR THIS IS WHAT SATAN WANTS - YOU BOUND UP IN UNBELIEF, EVIL AND CONFUSION AS TO WHETHER YAHUSHA STILL LOVES YOU OR IS EVEN WORKING IN YOU ANYMORE . . . REST ASSURED HE IS !!
Yisharal, you are the chosen set-apart people of Yahuah your Alahim. There are many nations on this earth, but He chose ONLY YOU to be His very own treasured possession. And even though you were the weakest of all nations, Yahuah chose you because He loves you so very much and because He’d made a promise to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then with His mighty hand, He rescued you from the Pharaoh of Egypt, who had made you his slaves.
You all know now that Yahuah your Alahim is the ONLY TRUE living Alahim, so you can’t say that you haven’t been told. So love Him and obey His Instructions because He is trustworthy to keep his Eternal Blood Covenant of Deliverance with you and your descendants for a thousand generations to come. But if you hate Him and turn against Him, He’ll repay you in kind (right to you face) with swift destruction. So don’t !!
Understand this!! If you completely obey His instructions and guard them in your heart, Yahuah your Alahim will be loyal and keep the Blood-Covenant agreement and the kindness that He promised our ancestors. He will love you and bless you by giving you many children and plenty of food, wine, and olive oil. Your herds of cattle will have many calves, and your flocks of sheep will have many lambs. Yahuah will bless you more than any other nation on the earth, your families will grow and your livestock will increase and you will no longer suffer with the same evil diseases that you experienced in Egypt. No! you’ll be healthy, and Yahuah will make those who hate you suffer from those diseases instead.
MOSES IS OFTEN SAYING THE SAME THING IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT WAYS IN HOPES THAT THE NUANCES OF THE MESSAGE WILL FINALLY HIT HOME AND YISHARAL WILL AVOID SERIOUS TROUBLE. HOWEVER I'M SURE AS MOSES LOOKED INTO THOUSANDS OF THESE FACES, HE KNEW FULL WELL THAT AS SOON AS HIS MESSAGE HAD ENDED, THE REBELLION WOULD BEGIN.
YAHUSHA WILL CAUSE YISHARAL TO BE GREATLY VICTORIOUS IN BATTLE BUT THIS IS SO LONG AS THE YISHARALITE WARRIORS SHOW THEIR FOES NO PITY. YAHUSHA IS THE ALAHIM OF EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING. THE CANAANITES ARE HIS CREATIONS JUST AS MUCH AS YISHARAL AND WHAT HE DECIDES IS THEIR FATE IS UP TO HIM. WE’VE BEEN WELL-SCHOOLED TO THINK OF THE CONCEPT OF LOSS AND CALAMITY MORE IN TERMS OF A SHRINKING BANK ACCOUNT, OR A HOME BEING REPOSSESSED, OR OUR JOB ELIMINATED, OR PERHAPS EVEN A LOVED ONE DYING FROM A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT OR FATAL DISEASE, BUT HERE YAHUSHA IS TALKING ABOUT WIPING OUT ENTIRE NATIONS ON WHOLESALE BASIS, TO ACCOMPLISH HIS WILL OF GIVING THE LAND OF CANAAN, AS HE PROMISED ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB.
So when Yahuah allows you to defeat your enemies, you must destroy them without pity! Do not excuse or pardon their behaviours or lifestyle, and make sure you don’t get trapped into worshiping their false deities. You may be thinking, “How can we destroy these nations? They’re way more powerful than we are.” Just chill ok! Stop worrying! Just remember what Yahuah your Alahim did to Egypt and its Pharaoh. You saw how He used His tremendous power to show you His great signs and wonders to bring you out of Egypt. And with a strong hand and outstretched arm He’ll work these miracles for you when you face these enemies you fear so much. Some of them may try to survive by hiding from you, but Yahuah will send the hornets and make them panic and freak-out, and soon they’ll all be dead. So don’t be frightened when you meet them in battle, for Yahuah your Alahim is great and fearsome, and He’s right here in your midst fighting at your side.
So as you attack these nations, Yahuah will force them out little by little, not letting you get rid of them all at once, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous and there wouldn’t be enough people living in the land to control them all. But when you attack your enemies, Yahuah will make them panic, and you will easily destroy them. You will defeat them one after another until they are gone, Yes, great kings will fall at your hand and no one will remember they ever existed. So after you conquer a particular nation, destroy all of their deities and burn their idols. Don’t get trapped into wanting the silver or gold on an idol, for even the precious metal on an idol is disgusting to Yahuah, so COMPLETELY DESTROY IT !!. Got that?? IF YOU BRING HOME ANY OF THESE DETESTABLE ABOMINATIONS WITH YOU (IE ASHERAH IDOLS ETC), BOTH YOU AND YOUR HOUSE WILL ALL BE DESTROYED. STAY AWAY FROM THOSE DISGUSTING IDOLS, UTTERLY LOATHE AND HATE THEM, FOR THEY’RE CURSED!
MOSES IS ADDRESSING WHAT HE KNOWS THE PEOPLE ARE THINKING. HOW DOES HE KNOW WHAT THEY'RE THINKING? BECAUSE HE SAW THE SAME THING HAPPEN ABOUT 38 YEARS EARLIER. IT IS THAT THE PEOPLE REALLY LIKE THE IDEA OF HAVING A WONDERFUL LAND OF THEIR OWN BUT THEY DON’T MUCH LIKE THE PART ABOUT HAVING TO FIGHT AND MANY LOSING THEIR LIVES IN BATTLE IN ORDER TO GET IT. THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO THE PEOPLE WERE SO AFRAID OF WAR THAT THEY BETRAYED YAHUSHA AND THE CONSEQUENCES ARE WELL KNOWN, SO MOSES IS TRYING TO WARD OFF THE VERY NATURAL FEARS THIS YOUNGER GENERATION MIGHT HAVE ABOUT CONQUERING CANAAN. THEREFORE HE TELLS YISHARAL TO BEAR IN MIND WHAT YAHUSHA DID TO EGYPT AND THAT HE IS GOING TO DO ESSENTIALLY THE SAME THING TO THE CANAANITES.
**ASHERAH REFERS TO A WOODEN OBJECT USED IN WORSHIP OF A CONSORT OF BAAL, KNOWN IN SCRIPTURE AS THE "QUEEN OF HEAVEN" AND IS CALLED "ARTEMIS" BY THE EPHESIANS IN ACTS 19. THE IMAGE OF ASHERAH WAS A TREE (A DATE PALM) USED BY THE PAGAN CANAANITES AND SIDONIANS. WHEN NORTHERN YISHARAL WAS DISPERSED INTO THE NATIONS BY THE ASSYRIANS IN 722 BCE, THEY CARRIED THIS TREE CUSTOM WITH THEM. THE LOST TRIBES OF DISPERSED YISHARAL HAVE PRESERVED ONE OF THEIR MOST CHERISHED PAGAN CUSTOMS AMONG THEM: THE CHRISTMAS TREE.
THE KJV TRANSLATES THE WORD ASHERIM INTO THE ENGLISH WORD GROVES (SYMBOLS OF FERTILITY, REBIRTH FOUND IN JER.7 + 44). THEY ARE ASTROLOGICAL FERTILITY SYMBOLS & TAKEN TOGETHER, THESE ARE THE SIGNS OF FERTILITY, FALSE WORSHIP, AND IDOLATRY BEFORE OUR CREATOR, YAHUSHA. NATURE WORSHIP IS WITCHCRAFT, AND BEHIND IT IS THE ENEMY'S CRAFTINESS AND DECEPTION.
RELATED ARTICLES THIS WEEK: