Hebrew Nation Online

News and commentary for Monday, 27 November, 2023.

Overview of the Tanakh – Session – 18

Overview of the Tanakh – Session 17

Overview of the Tanakh – Session 16

“Without wisdom, knowledge and understanding it is impossible to behave correctly within the framework of the covenant.” Rabbi Steve Berkson continues the subject of how wisdom, knowledge and understanding relate to keeping covenant from the Book of Proverbs. Take advantage of new teachings every week. To learn more about MTOI, visit our website, https://mtoi.org. Like […]

In last week's episode, we reviewed the essential understanding of the red beast, Esau (Edom is from adom, red), or The Red One, as he came to be called within Jewish literature. The Red One holds a place of special concern during the Chanukkah season because of the Seven Shepherds and Eighth Prince prophesied to deliver Israel from invading enemies. In The Seven Shepherds: Hanukkah in Prophecy, I demonstrated how we can use Yeshua's template concerning celebrations like Chanukkah and even learn prophecy, especially expectations concerning The Red One. What helps as well is to understand the history of Israel and the Temple that lends insight to the First Century Jewish mindset. In this case, the month of Kislev, or the Ninth Month, is one in which the Greeks installed an abomination that causes desolation idol on the 15th of Kislev and offered sacrifices to the abomination on the 25th of Kislev. Once the Greeks were driven off, the Temple precincts were purified from the abomination, the Temple was rededicated to holy worship on the 25th of Kislev in an eight-day celebration. The eight days of celebration and re-dedication commemorated a missed festival of Sukkot due to the abomination. In effect, it became a "Sukkot sheni," or second Sukkot, a "makeup" permission established in the Torah when a festival was missed due to uncleanness or being absent from the place of celebration. By the time of Yeshua, the Greeks, who were the third beast kingdom, had been replaced by Rome, the fourth beast kingdom. Rome was thought to be descended from Esau, and was called Edom, The Red One. First Century Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were controlled by the Romans politically and militarily. Jews of the First Century were looking for the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Seven Shepherds and Eight Princes who would be raised up to defeat Edom. This is why at the Feast of Dedication (Chanukkah) in winter, Yeshua was asked whether he was the Messiah or not. If so, then they wanted him to declare himself, raise up his kingdom, and overthrow The Red One. When Yeshua answers by talking about sheep, it is not a rambling, random answer. It is rooted in the Jewish expectation of The Seven Shepherds, and very precise. The problem was that no one wanted to hear the answer, which was that there were many other sheep who would have to be gathered first. The gathering would take a long time, and the scarlet beast would not be completely overthrown until Yeshua gathered them. Like most of us, the listeners didn't want to hear that answer. Our mindset is: Destroy all evil right now! What follows is an additional section of The Seven Shepherds: In the New Testament, there is only one other mention of “winter” other than the mention of Yeshua walking in the Temple at the Feast of Dedication, Chanukkah. Words means things, and so does their placement. The winter celebration of Chanukkah was significant in its placement in the Book of John, not random. Likewise, the other mention of winter in Matthew adds more context to the apocalyptic Jewish expectations of Messiah. Therefore, when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains…But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. There are two times that Yeshua doesn’t want his sheep to take flight: winter or Shabbat. The Jewish liturgy gives the rationale. Every Shabbat, the Torah, the covenant Word of God, is removed from the ark and held up for the congregation to see. The congregation responds with these words initiated by Moses: Arise, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered; and let them who hate You flee from You. From for Zion will forth the Torah, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Blessed be He, Who in His holiness gave His Torah to His people Israel. Those who flee and scatter from the Holy One on Shabbat are His enemies!...

Parsha ‘Vayetze’ (Genesis 28:10 through 32:3) begins the new, and most critical part of the live of Yakov, as he leaves home, goes to the place where he sees His ladder, and then sojourns with the infamous Laban and ultimately takes his four wives, and fathers the twelve tribes. The Erev Shabbat reading lays it […]

With the event of Thanksgiving in the US, I decided to share some thoughts on being thankful. An article I read gave information on some studies that have shown how a thankful attitude has definite health benefits. Conversely, a worried or sour attitude has detrimental effects on our health. In Psalm 136, David reminds us […]

Not what most people think or have been taught… Gog is likely another name for the Anti-Christ (Anti-Messiah) and his cohorts. The only person in scripture named Gog (outside of the Ezekiel prophecies) is from the tribe of Reuben and is also the Daniel 11 King of the North as he will enter Israel coming down from the far north (northern Europe). Ezekiel 38 and 39 are 2 separate Gog battles… Ezekiel 38 is the mid-tribulation invasion by Gog/Anti-Messiah to set up himself as king and the abomination desolation followed by a great earthquake and the splitting of the Mount of Olives allowing those in Judea to flee/escape to/through the valley of the mountains created by this split. Ezekiel 39 is the Gog battle known as Armageddon at the end of the 7 year tribulation after the witnesses are resurrected and ascend into heaven. YHWH makes a great feast of dead kings, mighty men and horses on the mountains of Israel to feed the birds and the beasts (also seen in Revelation 19). Then there is a 7 month burying of bodies and 7 year burning of weapons that takes place into the beginning of Y’shua’s (Jesus’) 1000 year Millennial Kingdom on earth.

We begin our first look at the three main musical cultures of the Bible with Babylon. We will hear two expert scholars in their respective fields of Assyriology, Dr Anne Kilmer, and in Assyrian and Archeo-Musicology, Richard Dumbrill speak regarding CBS10997 – one of the earliest musical cuniform tablets from Babylon. While buth areas have […]

This week the Torah teachers Mark Pitrone and Mark Call welcome Ray Harrison to the table, to continue the discussion of Isaiah chapter 9, and what are some of the most famous verses in the entire Bible, particularly with respect to the Messiah. And as Ray points out, even among those who have never read […]

News and commentary for the holiday-shortened week ending Friday, 24 November, 2023.

News and commentary for Wednesday, 22 November, 2023. The 60th anniversary of a date that should prove what happens when “lawlessness abounds,” and REAL insurrection goes unpunished.

News and commentary for Tuesday, 21 November, 2023.

News and commentary for Monday, 20 November, 2023.

Overview of the Tanakh – Session 15

Overview of the Tanakh – Session 14

Overview of the Tanakh – Session 13

Is it using wisdom to keep the covenant with the Most High Elohim? Does it take knowledge and understanding? From Proverbs chapter 2, Rabbi Steve Berkson shows how wisdom, knowledge and understanding relate and are connected to keeping covenant with the Almighty. Is there an active role in this covenant that people are expected to […]

The Red One is a monster you already know about. In the Book of Revelation, the scarlet beast is a fearsome creature, hunting the children of Israel. It is a conglomerate beast of Babylon, Persia-Media, Greece, and Rome. How The Red One unfolded through history from Day Six of Creation to Esau to the Edomite/Idumeans to the Roman Empire to the current conglomerate of organizations that facilitate the scarlet beast is important to understand. It helps the reader understand the Scriptures as one continuous, unfolding prophetic text. Oddly, The Red One holds a place of special concern during the Chanukkah season because of the Seven Shepherds and Eighth Prince prophesied to deliver Israel from invading enemies. This is also concerning because so many believers don't understand the place of Chanukkah in prophecy, preferring instead to debate whether it is "adding to the Torah" instead of studying its seeds in the Torah and Haggai, and even how it unfolds in the Gospels and Revelation. In Truth, Tradition, or Tare?, I demonstrated Yeshua's approach to "man's traditions" and how some he observed and others he dismissed. Better yet, I gave the reader a template to use based on Yeshua's teaching so that one could test traditions against the pattern. In The Seven Shepherds: Hanukkah in Prophecy, I demonstrated how we can use Yeshua's template concerning celebrations like Chanukkah and even learn prophecy, especially expectations concerning The Red One. What follows is the first section of The Seven Shepherds' chapter entitled The Red Shadow. As we delve so deeply into the prophecies of the Footsteps of Messiah, sometimes it helps to review the basics for newcomers: The Torah holds the Seed words from which the rest of the Older Testament (TANAKH) and Newer Testament grow. Those books of Scripture between Joshua and Revelation document traditions grown from the Torah. In fact, even the Torah seeds the idea that customs will grow from the Torah itself: Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip. This ancient battle between Esau and Jacob is a Seed pattern demonstrating both the struggle of mankind and the practice of traditions to preserve the memory of a Seed event in the Torah. The sensitive areas of both the foot and the hand are symbolic in Scripture. The foot, specifically the heel, represents the soul. In Hebrew, the soul is the nefesh. The shortest definition of the soul is a bundle of appetites, emotions, desires, and intellect. The heel becomes very hard and calloused, but the sole (Hebrew: caph) remains highly sensitive. When Jacob is born, he is holding onto red, hairy Esau’s heel, pointing to the place of Esau’s vulnerability, his appetites. The heel is the point of vulnerability to Eve’s “seed,” yet the point of vulnerability to the serpent-beast is the head, the symbol of the spirit. In his appetite for the “red stuff” and Canaanite women, Esau is both hardened predator and vulnerable prey, like a beast. He hunts for game and that which pleases his soul, and this is exactly how Jacob deceives his father Isaac out of Esau’s blessing and bargains with Esau for his birthright in Genesis 25. His soul appetites were what made Esau the prey, for all that is needed to bait a Red One like Esau is food, the hunt (competition, games), sexual pleasure, emotional pleasure, or intellectual achievement. Being governed by these desires instead of mastering them with the Spirit are the beast’s vulnerabilities. Esau represents the red stuff, a rowdy soul seeking pleasure and achievement. When Jacob returns to the Land to face Esau, he struggles one night with a “man,” whom he declares has the face of God, and Jacob names the place of the wrestling match Peniel. This struggle resulted in Jacob being smitten in the thigh socket, the caph. Before Jacob could face his twin Esau, he had to wrestle the Esau...