Introduction & Summary:
 
The first century Jewish recipients of this work, along with all who receive Messiah, are now encouraged, based on the repentant faith of our forebears (the faithful witnesses listed in Hebrews 11), to turn our backs on the sin that has entangled us and commit ourselves to running the race first set before us regardless of whether the part we personally play involves victorious miracles or life threatening hardships.
 
“For we are his workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” -Ephesians 2:10 (Author’s translation)
 
We are to focus our vision on Yeshua the King Messiah, Who is both the Originator and Perfecter, the Author and Goal of faith, and follow His example. He looked to the Joy that would result from His finished work and chose to suffer death on a Roman cross, His body exposed and nailed, He had contempt not only for the shame He suffered but also for shame itself, and as a result He returned to His place in the right hand of authority of the God. Based on this example we are encouraged not to lose heart.
 
The writer of Hebrews goes on to admonish us with the sobering observation that we have not yet resisted sin to the point of bloodshed (death), and that we are prone to forget who we are in Messiah. We are sons and daughters who suffer in this temporal life for many reasons, one of which is discipline. If we were not experiencing discipline as part of our journey we would be illegitimate sons and daughters, for God disciplines His children for good, so that we might share in His holiness. While discipline is unpleasant in the moment, it nonetheless produces in those who are trained by it, peace, the fruit of righteousness.
 
The final direction of the first 17 verses involves us strengthening one another. We are told to make straight, clear paths for ourselves and our fellow believers so that those who have been injured might be restored to spiritual health without the added danger of obstacles that litter  the path (way) before them, rocks that might cause them to stumble and thus aggravate the injuries they have suffered.
 
In addition to the well-being of the family of Messiah, we are also encouraged to seek peace (as much as it depends on us) with others, and to chase after holiness. Chasing after holiness is the metaphysical fruit of focusing on Yeshua, Who defines holiness in God.
 
We are warned to keep a look out for those things among us that might cause divisions as a result of rebellion and grudge holding. Holding a grudge is evidence of our failure to carry and exhibit the grace of God. We are to mitigate conflict before it reaches the point of causing division. Division of this kind defiles the body of believers. We are not to allow the intentionally sexually immoral person to remain in our midst. Those who perpetuate a sexually immoral lifestyle are synonymous with the godless. Esau’s despising of his birth right (a gift from God) is used as an example of the kind of fruit that is evidence of such people. Esau traded this precious gift for the momentary satisfying of his carnal hunger. The birth right is used here as a metaphor for eternal life. In short, the writer is warning us against turning our back on our birth right in Messiah as a result of focusing on the temporal pleasures of this life. If we sin we are to repent rather than act as Esau did, who wept and regretted but did not repent (initially).
 
Previous verses:
 
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, examined, proved, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented  38 (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground. 39 And all these, having gained a good report upon their faith, did not receive what was promised, messaged, 40 because the God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect, complete, consecrated.
 
HEBREWS 12:1-17 (Author’s translation)
 
1Therefore (based on what I’ve just said and going forward), since we also are surrounded by such a great, numerous cloud, multitude of vapor, of witnesses, martyrs, kiydush HaShem[H] [sanctifiers of the Name YHVH) [the ones I listed, who are interred (buried) all over the land of Israel, their bodies literally surrounding us], let’s rid ourselves of, put off, lay aside every weight, burden, encumbrance, obstacle and the sin, the missing of the mark set by God’s holiness, which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with patient endurance the race that is first, set before us, 2 looking only at, into, on, among Yeshua[H], the Originator, Author, Prince, Captain, Chief, and Perfecter, Completer, Consummator of the faith, trust, ongoing belief. Who for the transcendent joy set before Him endured the cross, despising, looking with distain upon, having contempt for the shame, and has sat down in the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider, contemplate, ponder, think on Him who has endured such hostility by sinners, those fading away, against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and faint, exhausted, relaxed, weakened, despondent in your heart, soul, mind, breath, life. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your struggle against sin, missing the mark set by God’s holiness; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation, consolation, entreaty which is addressed to you as sons and daughters, children, “My son, do not despise the discipline, instruction of the Lord, Nor faint, relax, be weakened, become exhausted when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord has all-encompassing love for He disciplines, teaches And He scourges, flogs every son whom He accepts, receives, delights in.” [Prov. 3:11,12 (ref. LXX)] A literal translation of the Hebrew text of Mishlei (Proverbs) 3:11-12:“The discipline of the LORD my son do not despise, don’t be wearied by His correction. For those who are loved by the LORD He proves as a father does the son in whom he delights.” 7 For in as much as you endure the discipline, nurturing, chastening; the God offers it to you as to sons; for what son is there who is not disciplined, taught by his father? 8 But if you are without discipline, nurturing, chastening of which all have become partakers, partners then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, additionally, we had earthly fathers (fathers of the flesh) who corrected, instructed, disciplined us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, winds, life and continue living? 10 For they disciplined, instructed, taught us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He for better, good, corporate well-being so that we may be partners, partakers in His holiness. 11 Now, all discipline, nurturing, chastening for the present seems not to be joyful, but painful, heavy, grievous; nevertheless afterward, at last it yields, pays, delivers the peaceful fruit of righteousness in those who have been trained by it, 12 Therefore (because you understand the reason for the discipline), lift up the hands that hang down (are growing weary) and strengthen the knees that are feeble, 13 and make straight, upright paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather be healed, made whole. 14 Pursue peace with all individually and collectively, and the holiness, sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 15 look diligently, forbid everyone from coming short of the grace of the God; forbid any root of bitterness, poison from springing up to cause trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 Forbid any sexually immoral or godless person like Esav[H], who sold his own birth-right for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, disallowed for he found no place, room, opportunity for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
 
HEBREWS 12:1-17 (line upon line)
 
1 Therefore (based on what I’ve just said and going forward), since we also are surrounded (perikeimai[G]) by such a great, numerous (tosoutos[G], hamon[H]) cloud, multitude of vapor (nephos[G]) of witnesses, martyrs, kiydush HaShem[H] [sanctifiers of the Name YHVH) (martus[G], eidiym[H]) [the ones I listed, who are interred (buried) all over the land of Israel, their bodies literally surrounding us], let’s rid ourselves of, put off, lay aside (apotithēmi[G]) every weight, burden, encumbrance, obstacle (ogkos[G]) and the sin, the missing of the mark set by God’s holiness (hamartia[G]) which so easily entangles (euperistatos[G]) us, and let’s run with patient endurance (hupomonē[G]) the race that is first, set before (prokeimai[G], lefaneiynu[H]) us,
 
1Therefore (based on what I’ve just said and going forward), since we also are surrounded by such a great, numerous cloud, multitude of vapor, of witnesses, martyrs, kiydush HaShem[H] [sanctifiers of the Name YHVH) [the ones I listed, who are interred (buried) all over the land of Israel, their bodies literally surrounding us], let’s rid ourselves of, put off, lay aside every weight, burden, encumbrance, obstacle and the sin, the missing of the mark set by God’s holiness, which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with patient endurance the race that is first, set before us,
 
The allusion to the cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12 refers us back to the list of those witnesses to God’s faithfulness who are recorded in Hebrews 11. Cloud is a common metaphor for a crowd in ancient Greek literature. Therefore, the modern reader can understand this verse to say “Therefore, since we have such a great crowd of witnesses…” These witnesses, as can be seen from Hebrews 11, are the now deceased patriarchs and heroes of the Jewish faith. The writer of Hebrews, a Jew and a Kohen (Priest), knows that the witnesses he is referring to are deceased and that many of them are buried (interred) throughout the land of Israel, literally surrounding the Jewish recipients of this work, and that they are therefore uncontactable according to his own teaching (inspired by the Holy Spirit) regarding the dead (Hebrews 9:27).
 
In the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16) Yeshua explains that while the dead are conscious, they are not able either to traverse the chasm between Gehinnom (torment) and Gan Eden (Paradise) nor (re: Lazarus etc. once they are finally deceased [Hebrews 9:27]) are they able to traverse the distance between Sheol and the present world. In my article on Saul, Samuel and the Witch of Eyndor, I explain why the events of 1 Samuel 28:3-21 are not describing the dead spirit of Samuel called up but rather an evil spirit that fools the witch and is used by God to condemn Saul. For further study please use the following link:
 
http://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-blog---14991514148914971493-15131500-1497150615111489/1-samuel-283-21-saul-and-the-witch-of-eyn-dor
 
The writer of the book of Hebrews is using the deceased Jewish witnesses of Hebrews 11 as a figurative example. When he says:
 
“Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses lying around us, let us also get rid of every weight and entangling sin. Let us run with endurance the race set before us, focusing on Yeshua, the author and perfecter of faith.” –Hebrews 12:1-2a
 
He is making a drash (inquiry/comparative teaching) regarding how we should act in light of the figurative (not literal) cloud of witnesses that are buried (interred) throughout the land of Israel. We are to live the same kind of repentant faith that our forebears lived. We must remember that the writer is probably writing from the perspective of a priest living in the Land of Israel prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE (AD).
 
He further qualifies this teaching by instructing us, not to focus on the cloud of witnesses, but on Yeshua, the Author and Perfecter of faith (The faith that our Jewish forebears shared in the coming Messiah Yeshua).
 
We cannot engage with this cloud of witnesses because they are deceased and according to Scripture (Hebrews 9:27) they are uncontactable. Those who do seek to speak to the dead are in fact speaking with demonic forces rather than the spirits of dead people (1 Timothy 4:1; 1 Corinthians 10:20-21; 2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
 
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” –Deuteronomy 18:10-12
 
Therefore, not only are we unable to engage with the dead witnesses of Hebrews 11-12, we are also commanded by God not to attempt to speak with the dead.
 
“let’s rid ourselves of, put off, lay aside every weight, burden, encumbrance, obstacle and the sin, the missing of the mark set by God’s holiness, which so easily entangles us,” Sin is described in the Tanakh as a burden too heavy to bear (Ps. 38:4). Along with the first century Jewish followers of Messiah Yeshua we are admonished to intentionally remove those things in our lives that provoke us to sin. To remove false choices from our lives. To remove divisive conversations over amoral choices. To remove grudges and petty squabbles, and the wilful sins that we continue to return to like dogs to vomit. By all these things we have become easily entangled, confused, misdirected, unfocused, and led astray. Therefore, we are admonished to tishuvah (return) our focus to Yeshua. Repentant faith is great faith.
 
“and let’s run with patient endurance the race that is first, set before us,” We are to return to our first love. The Greek prokeimai combines the meanings “before” and “first” and as a result reflects the prophetic words of Yeshua spoken to Yochanan in the Revelation:
 
“2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” -Revelation 2:2-5 (NIV)

We note that we are to run the race of our first love with patient endurance, and that the race “is first, set before us,” not “was” but “is”. Once again we are encouraged to see the eternally present reality of the kingdom of God in Yeshua.
 
A number of ancient Judaism’s rabbis used sporting metaphors like this one (Exodus Rabbah 30:24; Genesis Rabbah 22:9).
 
2 looking only at, into, on, among (eis[G]) Yeshua[H], the Originator, Author, Prince, Captain, Chief (archēgos[G]), and Perfecter, Completer, Consummator (teleiōtēs[G]) of the faith, trust, ongoing belief (pistis[G], emunateinu[H]). Who for the transcendent joy (chara[G], hasimchah[H]) set before Him endured the cross, despising, looking with distain upon, having contempt for (kataphroneō[G]) the shame, and has sat down in the right hand of the throne of God (ho Theos[G], ha Elohiym[H]).
 
2 looking only at, into, on, among Yeshua[H], the Originator, Author, Prince, Captain, Chief, and Perfecter, Completer, Consummator of the faith, trust, ongoing belief. Who for the transcendent joy set before Him endured the cross, despising, looking with distain upon, having contempt for the shame, and has sat down in the right hand of the throne of God.
 
The writer continues the sporting/running analogy by implying that Yeshua is not only the coach who encourages us at the starting line and awaits us at the finish line, but is also the runner Who went before us. Because Yeshua is the Creator of the track, has already run and won the race, we are not running in order to place in the race, but in order to receive our part in the prize which He has already won. We run a race of trusting endurance. A race that He has run, one that He trains us for, one that He runs with us, a race which begins and finds its goal in Him. He is before us, beside us, within us, awaiting us. Like a young athlete who looks to emulate the performance of his mentor, we look to our Mentor, and with His help, we emulate His performance.
 
Rav Shaul haShaliach (Paul the Apostle) writes:
 
“12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Messiah Yeshua took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Messiah Yeshua.” -Philippians 3:12-14
 
“looking only at, into, on, among Yeshua” Note that the example of the witnesses of old are to point us to the King Messiah in Whom they had faith. We are not to look to the witnesses for the perfection of our faith, rather we are to look only at, in, on Yeshua. In the walk of the Messiah follower sin manifests only as a result of our having taken our eyes off Yeshua.
 
“the Originator, Author, Prince, Captain, Chief, and Perfecter, Completer, and Consummator of the faith, trust, ongoing belief” Yeshua the all existing Messiah, slain before the creation of the world, is therefore the Originator of the faith, trust, ongoing belief and the Goal, Completer, Consummator of it. Yeshua is the Aleph and Tav, the first and the goal. He is the Author of all things in God and is the Author and essence of the written Torah, and therefore the Author of the instruction that informs our faith, ongoing belief, while also being the Goal of the Torah (Rom. 10:4). He is the Prince, the Chief, Captain and the Head of the faith, Son of God, King of Kings submitted to the King Hashem. He is the Perfector and Completer of the faith through His sacrificial work of consummation, and is therefore the Consummator of faith. We speak in terms of a singular faith because there is but one. Faith, ongoing belief, continued trust in Him is the only means by which we have right relationship in God and eternal life. We note that our faith in Him is not a moment of mental assent to the truth of His work but an ongoing heart trust in Him.
 
“Who for the transcendent joy set before Him endured the cross,” Yeshua exhibited trust in God the Father, being assured that God being faithful would, in Yeshua, bring about the fullness of everlasting Joy born of His saving work resulting in reconciliation. Yeshua looked to the goal and chose to suffer naked on the Roman cross in order to see that goal reached. This is an example to all who believe.
 
“despising, looking with distain upon, having contempt for the shame” He had contempt not only for the shame He suffered but also for shame itself. Through His death on the cross Yeshua put shame to death, so that all who receive Him might walk as He did, showing contempt for the shame associated to persecution and suffering, seeing it as nothing more than a temporal stepping stone to eternal life in Messiah.
 
“and has sat down in the right hand of the throne of God.” Yeshua has returned to the place that symbolizes His authority in the Godhead, the position He has had from before the foundation of the world (Ps. 110:1; 1:3,13; 8:1; 10:12). He allowed Himself to be limited to location (born into time and space in the womb of Miriyam, fully God and fully man), and is now risen from death, trans-locational, transcendent, unbound.
 
3 For consider, contemplate, ponder, think on (analogizomai[G]) Him who has endured such hostility by sinners, those fading away (hamartōlos[G]), against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and faint, exhausted, relaxed, weakened, despondent (ekluō[G]) in your heart, soul, mind, breath, life (psuchē[G], benafsho[H]). 4 You have not yet resisted [c]to the point of shedding blood (ad hadam[H]) in your struggle (antagōnizomai[G]) against sin, missing the mark set by God’s holiness (hamartia[G], bacheit[H]); 
 
3 For consider, contemplate, ponder, think on Him who has endured such hostility by sinners, those fading away, against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and faint, exhausted, relaxed, weakened, despondent in your heart, soul, mind, breath, life. 4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your struggle against sin, missing the mark set by God’s holiness; 
 
The first century Jewish recipients along with all we who have come to believe, having established our focus on Yeshua must now contemplate His life example and His present help. We must remind ourselves that He has suffered in part as an example to us, and that in His suffering, though He was tempted to give up, He nonetheless endured even unto death. Those who first received this teaching had not yet suffered in resisting sin to the point of death (blood shed).
 
Therefore, they are admonished to resist self-pity. Self-pity is an ironic blend of idolatry, self-harm and blasphemy disguised as a justified response to harm. It is the root of a victim mentality that leads to death. It is idolatry because it inevitably concludes that no one has suffered as I have. It is self-harm because it devalues us as created beings and when it becomes our repeated mode of thinking it leads to the dissolution of hope, making us fruitless and leading us into a life full of death. Finally, it is blasphemy because by denying the worth with which we are imbued by the Creator, it impugns God’s character.
 
“so that you don’t grow weary and faint, exhausted, relaxed, weakened, despondent in your heart, mind, soul” Note that by pondering Messiah’s suffering we will avoid the conditions of heart and mind that are listed here. If we see these things manifesting in our lives we are to repent and contemplate Messiah’s example, thus we will be freed from the fruit of self-pity, which is death.
 
A believer may become tired as a result of the role he plays in ministry, however, he must not become weary. Weariness is not a state of physical, emotional or mental tiredness but a way of thinking about that tiredness. Better to say, “I’m tired as a result of the work, I need to rest” rather than say, “I’m weary of all this, I’m done”. Likewise relaxation can become a counterfeit of rest. Where rest restores, vain relaxation can produce laziness.
 
What is the practical discipline needed in order to avoid weariness? To contemplate Messiah’s suffering and the hostility He faced, and take comfort in knowing that Messiah in us faces the hostility that others show toward us.
 
“For we do not have a high priest Who is unable to sympathize, have compassion with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted, tried, examined, proved in all things just as we are, yet without sin [missing the mark set by God’s holiness].” -Hebrews 4:15 (Author’s translation)
 
“Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.” -Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)
 
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” -Galatians 6:9 (NIV)
 
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation, consolation, entreaty (paraklēsis[G]) which is addressed to you as sons and daughters, children (uihos[G], kevaniym[H]) “My son (uihos[G]), do not despise (oligōreō[G]) the discipline, instruction (paideia[G]) of the Lord (YHVH[H]), Nor faint, relax, be weakened, become exhausted (ekluō[G]) when you are rebuked (elegchō[G]) by Him; 6 For whom the Lord (YHVH[H]) has all-encompassing love for (agapaō[H]) He disciplines, teaches (paideuō[G]) And He scourges, flogs (mastigoō[G]) every son whom He accepts, receives, delights in (paradechomai[G]).” [Prov. 3:11,12 (ref. LXX)] A literal translation of the Hebrew text of Mishlei (Proverbs) 3:11-12:“The discipline of the LORD my son do not despise, don’t be wearied by His correction. For those who are loved by the LORD He proves as a father does the son in whom he delights.”
 
5 and you have forgotten the exhortation, consolation, entreaty which is addressed to you as sons and daughters, children, “My son, do not despise the discipline, instruction of the Lord, Nor faint, relax, be weakened, become exhausted when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord has all-encompassing love for He disciplines, teaches And He scourges, flogs every son whom He accepts, receives, delights in.” [Prov. 3:11,12 (ref. LXX)] A literal translation of the Hebrew text of Mishlei (Proverbs) 3:11-12:“The discipline of the LORD my son do not despise, don’t be wearied by His correction. For those who are loved by the LORD He proves as a father does the son in whom he delights.”
 
“and you have forgotten the exhortation, consolation, entreaty which is addressed to you as sons and daughters, children,” In addition to the fact that the recipients of this work have not yet resisted in the struggle against sin unto death, they are now rebuked for forgetting who they are as sons and daughters of God, in particular, sons and daughters of Israel (ethnic, religious, chosen, empirical) to whom the words of Proverbs were given.
 
“My son, do not despise the discipline, instruction of the Lord, Nor faint, relax, be weakened, become exhausted when you are rebuked by Him;” As followers of Messiah we are reminded that we should not respond to the LORD’s discipline by becoming weary or giving up on doing what is right.
 
“For whom the Lord has all-encompassing love for He disciplines, teaches And He scourges, flogs every son whom He accepts, receives, delights in.” The discipline of the LORD is evidence of His love for His children. It is a wicked father who fails to discipline his children.
 
Why does the Greek text use the word “scourged, flogged”? In part this is done by the writer of this work in order to make a kal vechomer (light and heavy) argument using a comparative drash between Yeshua’s suffering under the scourge of Roman oppression and the suffering of the first century Jewish believers. In short the writer is saying, “If Yeshua Who is sinless was nonetheless proved in the flogging He received, how much more should we as sinful people expect flogging (suffering) as a form of discipline that proves (refines) us on our journey of sanctification in faith?”
 
God Who understands the end from the beginning disciplines those who receive Him, whereas those who will refuse Him cannot be understood to be disciplined by Him because discipline results in the proving of a person. Therefore, those destined for destruction endure suffering in vain. Based on this Biblical idea Judaism makes a distinction between “yisurin shel ahavah” meaning “chastisements of love” upon the children of God and “chastisements” in general (Mekhilta Bachodesh 10; Talmud Bavliy Berakot 5a; Talmud Bavliy Sanhedrin 101a; Genesis Rabbah 42:1). It is the former that is being discussed here.
 
7 For in as much as you endure the discipline, nurturing, chastening (paideia[G]); the God (ho Theos[G], ha Elohiym[H]) offers it (prospherō[G]) to you as to sons (uihos[G], vaniym[H]); for what son is there who is not disciplined, taught (paideuō[G]) by his father (pater[G], av[H])? 8 But if you are without discipline, nurturing, chastening (paideia[G]) of which all have become partakers, partners (metochos[G]) then you are illegitimate children (nothos[G], mamzeriym[H]) and not sons (uihos[G], vaniym[H]). 
 
7 For in as much as you endure the discipline, nurturing, chastening; the God offers it to you as to sons; for what son is there who is not disciplined, taught by his father? 
 
Those who experience suffering as a disciplining from God can find comfort in the knowledge that this is evidence that they are sons and daughters of God.
 
8 But if you are without discipline, nurturing, chastening of which all have become partakers, partners then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 
 
All believers are partakers in the chastening against sin which bears the fruit of a repentant lifestyle. Those who are not partners in the disciplining of God are illegitimate children, in Hebrew/Yiddish mamzeriym, equivalent to the English bastard. The analogy relates to seed. The legitimate son is seeded by the faith in Messiah whereas the illegitimate son is seeded by the evil one. All human beings are children of creation, but only those who receive God’s redemptive work through Messiah are given the right to become children of God (John 1:12).
 
According to Scripture legitimate sons become heirs, whereas illegitimate sons do not inherit. In the present instance the inheritance in question is that of eternal life.
 
All this is pretext to the example given in verse 16 of the godless actions of Esau, who failed to inherit, as opposed to Yaakov, who in faith inherited.
 
9 Furthermore, additionally, we had earthly fathers (avot[H], fathers of the flesh) who corrected, instructed, disciplined (paideutēs[G]) us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father (Av[H]) of spirits, winds, life (pneuma[G], haruchot[H]) and continue living (zaō[G])? 10 For they disciplined, instructed, taught (paideuō[G]) us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He for better, good, corporate well-being (sumpherō[G], letov[H]) so that we may be partners, partakers (metalambanō[G]) in His holiness (bekadosho[H]). 
 
9 Furthermore, additionally, we had earthly fathers (fathers of the flesh) who corrected, instructed, disciplined us, and we respected them; shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits, winds, life and continue living?
 
Once again the writer uses kal vechomer. If earthly fathers discipline us to some affect, how much more effective is the discipline of the perfect heavenly Father.
 
10 For they disciplined, instructed, taught us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He for better, good, corporate well-being so that we may be partners, partakers in His holiness.
 
The discipline of our earthly fathers was imperfect but the discipline of God being perfect is for something better, that is the individual and corporate well-being of all who believe, who through Yeshua and in response to God’s discipline become partakers in His holiness.
 
11 Now, all discipline, nurturing, chastening (paideia[G]) for the present (pareimi[G]) seems not to be joyful (chara[G], sason[H]), but painful, heavy, grievous (lupē[G]); nevertheless afterward, at last (husteron[G]) it yields, pays, delivers (apodidōmi[G]) the peaceful (eirēnikos[G]) fruit (karpos[G]) of righteousness (dikaiosunē[G], tzedakah[H]) in those who have been trained (gumnazō[G]) by it, 12 Therefore (because you understand the reason for the discipline), lift up (anorthoō[G]) the hands (yadayim[H]) that hang down (are growing weary) and strengthen the knees that are feeble (ameitzu[H]), 
 
11 Now, all discipline, nurturing, chastening for the present seems not to be joyful, but painful, heavy, grievous; nevertheless afterward, at last it yields, pays, delivers the peaceful fruit of righteousness in those who have been trained by it,
 
Prior to the first century C.E. the Greek word karpos (fruit/vegetable) was assimilated into the Hebrew language as karpas (green leafy vegetable, parsley, celery) and became part of the symbolism of the Pesach (Passover) seder (order) meal. This adds significance to the present teaching because it is a familiar connection for first century Jewish Messiah followers and combines the ideas of suffering (salt water) and new life (spring vegetable).
 
The karpas (parsley) is dipped in salt water symbolizing the tears of Israel resulting from ancient Egyptian slavery. Israel’s sojourn in Egypt was a type of proving, a time of discipline which culminated in freedom and a further journey of discipline through the desert which resulted in her entry into the promised land. The message here is that God is present in the discipline, proving, sanctifying and making us ready for the promised future. We are being trained by our momentary struggles so as to exhibit the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
 
12 Therefore (because you understand the reason for the discipline), lift up the hands that hang down (are growing weary) and strengthen the knees that are feeble, 
 
“Lift up the hands that hang down” means to lend help to another whose arms are becoming weary. It is a first century Hebrew idiom related to the actions of Aaron and Hur who helped Moses to keep his hands lifted in praise to God as a symbolic gesture denoting the fact that it was God Who was defeating Israel’s enemies in battle (Exodus 17). As a result of Aaron and Hur acting to strengthen their leader Moses, Joshua the leader of Israel’s army overcame the Amalekite army and God decreed the obliteration of the Amalekites, who represented idolatry and hatred of God and His people.
 
This can be seen as an example to the first century recipients of the Book to the Hebrews, one which we can also apply. When we strengthen one another in Messiah, when we lift up the weary hands of our leaders and our suffering brothers and sisters, we will see the victory of God in Yeshua (Joshua) over the enemy (Satan/Amalekites).
 
13 and make straight, upright (orthos[G]) paths (trochia[G]) for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired (chōlos[G]) may not be dislocated (ektrepō[G]), but rather be healed, made whole (iaomai[G]). 14 Pursue (diōkō[G]) peace (eirēnē[G], shalom[H]) with all individually and collectively (eirēnē[G], kol adam[H]), and the holiness, sanctification (hagiasmos[G]) without which no one will see the Lord (Kurios[G], YHVH[H]). 15 look diligently (episkopeō[G]), forbid (mē[G]) everyone from coming short of the grace (charis[G], chesed[H]) of the God (ho Theos[G], ha Elohiym[H]); forbid any root (rhiza[G]) of bitterness, poison (pikria[G]) from springing up to cause trouble, and by it many become defiled (miainō[G]); 
 
13 and make straight, upright paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather be healed, made whole.
 
The wicked rush to do evil (Isa. 59:7) but the righteous bring good news and announce peace (Isa. 52:7). The path of the righteous is made straight by the LORD (Prov. 3:5-6).
 
Practically speaking making straight paths involves removing obstacles and making the paths traversable. Straight, level paths pose less danger in the dark and mean that those walking them are less likely to trip and become injured. A person who is hobbling from a pre-existing injury is unlikely to aggravate the injury further while walking a straight path, and thus can begin the road to full health. The obstacles that need to be cleared are the rocks of sin, bitterness, apostasy.
 
The Word of God is a lamp to the feet and a light to the clear path (Ps. 119:105). Therefore, part of ensuring a safe journey on a straight path is the preparation of God’s Word. Daylight will turn to dusk and night, at which point we require light.
 
14 Pursue peace with all individually and collectively, and the holiness, sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. 
 
To pursue peace is to pursue the Prince of Peace (Yeshua), we are to pursue the peace of Yeshua as individuals and in community of faith, and in peace we are to seek the holiness and sanctification found in Yeshua, without which no one can be reconciled to right relationship in God.
 
“will see the Lord” Meaning, to see God with unveiled face when He manifests His glory in the new heaven and new earth.
 
“If it be possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” -Romans 12:18
 
“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” -Psalm 34:14 (15) KJV
 
15 look diligently, forbid everyone from coming short of the grace of the God; forbid any root of bitterness, poison from springing up to cause trouble, and by it many become defiled;
 
When God through Moses gave the covenant to all Israel (Deut. 29) Moses warned:
“So that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.” -Deuteronomy 29:18 NASB

Believers are admonished to diligently watch the fruit of the individuals that make up the community of faith. They are to expose and root out any root of bitterness and forbid its growth so that it doesn’t poison and divide the community of faith. We note that the bitterness in question results from hearts turning away from God and toward idolatry (Deut.29:18). It is faithlessness that can defile the entire community. The language of defilement relates to unclean things. If unclean practices are allowed to permeate the community of faith the community becomes like an unclean animal that cannot be offered to God.
 
Rav Shaul’s words make a good segue between the subject of bitter apostacy and the practice of pursuing carnal pleasures at the expense of eternal inheritance:
 
“17 Brothers and sisters, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. 18 For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Messiah, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Saviour, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah; 21 who will transform the body of our lowly condition into conformity with His glorious body, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” -Philippians 3:17-21
 
16 Forbid (mē[G]) any sexually immoral (pornos[G]) or godless person (bebēlos[G]) like Esav[H] (Esau), who sold his own birth-right for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing (bechorato[H]), he was rejected, disallowed (apodokimazō[G]) for he found no place, room, opportunity (topos[G], makom[H]) for repentance (metanoia[G], teshuvato[H]), though he sought for it with tears.
 
16 Forbid any sexually immoral or godless person like Esav[H], who sold his own birth-right for a single meal. 17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, disallowed for he found no place, room, opportunity for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
 
Sexually immorality is taken very seriously and is explained as evidence of godlessness. Believers are not just to look down on, but to forbid sexual immorality. Likewise, those who like Esau, despise the eternal birth-right  given to those in Messiah Yeshua in favour of pursuing the temporal pleasures of sin in an intentionally sinful lifestyle, are to be forbidden, asked to leave the community. The Scripture teaches that all are invited but only the repentant may remain.
 
Esau’s rejection described here is the rejection of his father Isaac and not the rejection of God relative to Esau’s eternal position. Isaac was unable to bless Esau with the blessing that had already been given, once given the blessing is like a spiritual version of a binding legal document (Gen. 25-27).
 
We note that Esau is said to have been rejected, not because he was upset about what he had chosen to do but because he did not find the capacity to repent of what he had done. This is evidenced in the bitter hatred and vengeful intentions he exhibited toward Jacob following the death of Isaac. This is used as an example which draws a correlation between the birth right and the inheritance of eternal life, and between the pot of red stew and the temporal pleasures of this life (Philippians 3:17-21). Esau’s selling of his birth-right for food is a metaphor for the believer who trades his eternal inheritance for the temporal pleasures of sin.
 
Ultimately, at any point prior to death the repentant can receive forgiveness and enter the inheritance offered by God through Yeshua.
 
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” -2 Peter 3:9
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown

​Introduction:
 
The remainder of this chapter gives us examples of faith in action and affords us an opportunity to apply the principles practiced by our faithful forebears.
 
We see that those who came before were not perfect but were faithful in their imperfection, trusting God for their righteousness and acting in repentant belief through the promise of the King Messiah.
 
In certain cases, their faith proved through trial became a prefigure of the saving work of Yeshua and the redemptive purposes of God for humanity.
 
Previous verses:
 
17 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Avraham[H], when he was examined, proved, brought up Yitzchak[H] [Isaac], and the one who had received the promises was offering up his only son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “Through Yitzchak[H] your seed shall be called.” [Gen. 21:12] 19 He considered that the God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type, figure, parable. 20 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Yitzchak[H] blessed Yaakov[H] and Esav[H], even regarding things to come.
 
HEBREWS 11:21-40 (Author’s translation)
 
21 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Yaakov[H] as he was dying, blessed, spoke well over both the sons of Yoseph[H], and worshiped, on the top of his staff. 22 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Yoseph[H], when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the children of Yisrael[H], and gave commandment concerning his bones. 23 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Moshe[H], when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the Pharoah’s edict. 24 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Moshe[H], when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment, undergo suffering and affliction with the people, of the God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, temporarily, 26 considering the reproach, abusive disapproval levelled at Messiah greater riches than the treasures of Mitzrayim[H]; for he was looking to the reward, wages. 27 In faith, trust, assurance, belief he left Mitzrayim[H], not fearing the wrath of the Pharoah; for he persevered, as though seeing Him who is unseen. 28 In faith, trust, assurance, belief he kept the Pesach[H] and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them. 29 In faith, trust, assurance, belief they passed through the Red Sea as though on dry land; and the Mitzrayim[H], when they attempted it, were swallowed up, devoured, drowned. 30 In faith, trust, assurance, belief the walls of Yeriychoh[H] fell down after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days. 31 In faith, trust, assurance, belief the prostitute, fornicator, idolatress Rachav[H] did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace. 32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gid’on[H], Barak[H] Shimshon[H], Yiphtach[H], of David[H] and Shemuel[H] and the prophets, 33 who in faith, trust, assurance, belief conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mocking and flogging, and further, chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, examined, proved, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented  38 (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground. 39 And all these, having gained a good report upon their faith, did not receive what was promised, messaged, 40 because the God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect, complete, consecrated.
 
HEBREWS 11:21-40 (line upon line)
 
21 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Yaakov[H] (Jacob – follower) as he was dying, blessed, spoke well over (eulogeō[G], beirakh[H]) both the sons of Yoseph[H] (Joseph – YHVH adds), and worshiped (proskuneō[G]), on the top of his staff (rhabdos[G]). 22 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Yoseph[H], when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the children of Yisrael[H], and gave commandment (entellomai[G]) concerning his bones.
 
21 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Yaakov[H] as he was dying, blessed, spoke well over both the sons of Yoseph[H], and worshiped, on the top of his staff. 
 
Ref. Genesis 48
 
The reference to Yaakov worshipping God while leaning on the top of his staff either reflects the Greek Septuagint reading of Genesis 47:31 (the Masoretic text marks the vowels [nikudot] as MiTaH “bed”, but the Hebrew text of the Torah scroll has no such markings and may also be read MaTeH “staff”), or refers to an unrecorded act that followed the blessings portion of the account of Genesis 48. In either case Yaakov/Yisrael is worshipping God while leaning on the head of his staff, the staff denoting authority, support and the head of the staff being a metaphor for the chief authority given Yaakov (over Israel the people). Therefore, Yaakov submits all of Israel to God in worship.
 
The account of Yaakov blessing Yoseph’s sons has many similarities with that of Isaac’s blessing Yaakov and Esav. Yaakov is said to have been blind at this point, just as Isaac had been poor sighted when blessing Yaakov and Esav. Yaakov also crosses his hands in order to bless the younger son over the elder. The text of the Book to the Hebrews illuminates the fact that Yaakov trusted God in faith to fulfil the prophetic blessing he pronounced over the sons of Yoseph. Yaakov believed that those descended from Yoseph’s sons would see the promised land, even though at the time Israel was in the land of Egypt.
 
This begins a progression of faithful ones from Yaakov through Yoseph to Moshe, who among themselves saw the provision of God from the time Israel entered Egypt until the time that the nation was delivered from slavery and brought to the promised land (which the writer of the book to the Hebrews has previously used as a metaphor describing the transcendent location of the land in the Olam Haba [world to come] ref. Heb. 3 - 4).
 
22 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Yoseph[H], when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the children of Yisrael[H], and gave commandment concerning his bones.
 
Prior to this Yaakov had requested that Yoseph inter his remains in the cave Avraham had purchased by the field of Machpelah opposite Mamre in Canaan (the land of Israel)[Gen. 50:1:21].
 
Yoseph, though he lived several hundred years prior to the exodus, firmly believed God would bring Israel out of Egypt into the land of promise. He believed this based on faith passed down from Avraham and was so certain of its taking place that he gave instructions for his mummified remains/bones to be carried with Israel during their exodus and to be brought into the promised land and there be interred [Gen. 50:22-26].
 
The bones of Yoseph were carried out of Egypt some 400 years after his death:
 
“And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had directly charged the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will surely visit you; and you shall carry up my bones away hence with you.’” -Shemot (Exodus) 13:19
 
Upon arriving in the land of promise the children of Israel interred the bones of Yoseph in Shechem on a parcel of land purchased by Yaakov, and so Ephraim and Manasseh inherited that plot of land according to the will of Yaakov their progenitor.
 
“And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they interred in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob had purchased off of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.” -Yehoshua (Joshua) 24:32
 
23 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Moshe[H] (drawn out one, resurrected one), when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid (phobeō[G]) of the Pharoah’s (basileus[G], king’s) edict. 24 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Moshe[H], when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
 
23 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Moshe[H], when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the Pharoah’s edict. 
 
The faith spoken of here is that of Moses’ parents. The Masoretic text records Moses’ mother Yocheved hiding him, while the Septuagint records both parents (Amram & Yocheved Ex. 6:20) hiding him. This is not a contradiction but an illumination. A mother has a special connection to her child that a father does not share in kind, therefore, it was Moses’ mother who led in the decision to hide him in agreement with his father, both loving him equally and uniquely.
 
The phrase “saw that he was beautiful” is first a way of saying, that as is the case with all good parents, Moses was precious in their sight and that they were willing to sacrifice everything in order to protect Moses from death at the hands of an idolatrous Pharoah. Second, it is an indication of Moses’ unique role as deliverer. The text tells us that Moses’ parents were not afraid of Pharoah’s edict (Ex. 1:16, 22) because of their devout faith in God and by inference, His promised Messiah, prefigured in their son Moses.
 
Moses, the drawn out or resurrected one, was placed in a basket in the Nile river where other children had been tossed as sacrifices to the crocodile deity Sebek a.k.a Sobek. Metaphorically Moses was given over to death. However, seeing his basket the daughter of Pharoah drew him out of the water and raised him as her own, a living parable of resurrection. Thus, Moses’ very name (character, history) is prophetic of the death and resurrection of the King Messiah Yeshua.
 
24 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Moshe[H], when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
 
When Moses reached the age of understanding (13yrs according to the modern Jewish rite of Bar Mitzvah), he was aware of his lineage and refused to be known as the son of Pharoah’s daughter, not out of disrespect for her but in deference to his own people and his own God. We note that to some degree deity was attached to the royals of Egypt and that part of the need for Moses to make his affiliation to Israel clear was related to severing ties to some of the idolatrous practices of the Pharaohs. On a practical level his conviction of faith saw him leave the palace with its comforts and prestige, temporal sinful pleasures and so on, and instead live among his brothers and sisters, the oppressed Israelite slaves in relative poverty.
 
25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment, undergo suffering and affliction (sugkakoucheō[G]) with the people (ho laos[G], am[H]), of the God (ho Theos[G], Elohiym[H]) than to enjoy the pleasures (echō apolausis[G]) of sin for a season, temporarily (proskairos[G]), 26 considering the reproach, abusive disapproval (oneidismos[G]) levelled at Messiah (Christos[G], Mashiach[H]) greater (meizōn[G]) riches than the treasures of Mitzrayim[H] (Egypt – double distress); for he was looking to the reward, wages (misthapodosia[G]). 
 
25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment, undergo suffering and affliction with the people, of the God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, temporarily, 
 
The context denotes that “the people of the God” is a phrase synonymous with “Israel” (ethnic), the descendants of Jacob.
 
“The pleasures of sin” can refer to sin acts of any kind, and could include the oppression of the Israelites. Moses firmly rejected a lifestyle of sin in favour of a godly calling unto suffering and trial.
 
Moses could have worked behind the scenes provoking political intrigue and positioning himself to direct the ruling class of Egypt toward changing their view of the Israelites. He could have done all this and continued to enjoy the comforts of royal life, but he did not. His faith in God and in the ultimate Deliverer Yeshua meant that compromise was not an option. He both counted and paid the cost of clinging to his God, his people and his calling. He saw the pleasures of this world as temporary and instead chose the unseen and eternal joy of the Olam Haba (world to come), trusting that God Who is faithful, would manifest His promises to Israel at the appointed time.
 
The first century C.E. Jewish recipients of this work were in part faced with a similar choice between living comfortably under the apostate priesthood which was for a time politically aligned with Rome and therefore the Emperor (Pharoah of the day), or being rejected by family and friends and left struggling to make ends meet along with their fellow Messiah following Jewish brothers and sisters. In short, they could relate to Moses and the struggles he faced and could take comfort in the fact that they shared in his faith.
 
We too can take comfort in this knowledge, that we have many faithful examples in the lives of those who have gone before us. Regardless of when a believer lives within the chronology of history, we are all united in the same saving faith in Yeshua our King Messiah.
 
26 considering the reproach, abusive disapproval levelled at Messiah greater riches than the treasures of Mitzrayim[H]; for he was looking to the reward, wages.
 
Ref. Exodus 2:11-15
 
To say as so many commentators do, that “Moses’ understanding of the Messiah was very limited”, is utter nonsense born of presumption. If the resurrected Messiah is transcendent and unbound by time and space then He is also trans-locational and able to reveal Himself at any point in the chronology of Israel’s history.
 
First, Moses must have seen Messiah in faith in order for him to consider “the suffering of Messiah of greater riches than the temporal riches of Egypt,” and second, the suffering of Messiah is here connected to the suffering of the Israelites under bondage in Egypt. Moses being a type for the Messiah, the “prophet” like Moses Whom God would send in the future.
 
Moses knew enough to say that “the Word (ha-Davar[H]/logos[G]) is very near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart” (Deut. 30:14), and “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me…” (Deut. 18:15-22). Yeshua said “For had you believed Moses, you would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me.” (John 5:46).
 
One might say that Moses’ understanding of the King Messiah was markedly greater than that of many modern Christians. So was his understanding limited? Perhaps. But not as limited as the understanding of many of our modern theological scholars.
 
“He was looking to the reward” based on his faith in God through Messiah. It is the reward that is unseen. The Olam Haba (world to come).
 
27 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) he left Mitzrayim[H] (Egypt – double distress), not fearing the wrath of the Pharoah (basileus[G], king); for he persevered, as though seeing Him who is unseen. 28 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) he kept the Pesach[H] (Passover) and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them. 
 
27 In faith, trust, assurance, belief he left Mitzrayim[H], not fearing the wrath of the Pharoah; for he persevered, as though seeing Him who is unseen. 
 
Ref. Exodus 2, & 5 through 13
 
“he left Mitzrayim[H], not fearing the wrath of the Pharoah” can refer to both his fleeing to Midian aged 40 years (Ex. 2) and to his subsequent exodus with Israel following the plagues (Ex. 13). There is no need to debate over the application of this phrase.
 
Moses did not fear the powerful wrath of Pharaoh because he feared the One true God of all creation, El Elohay Yisrael (God the God of Israel). The fear of God is an end to fear.
 
“As though seeing Him who is unseen” is a reference to God the Father, Who is unseen. And makes sense because Moses spoke to the person of Messiah (the Son) face to face.
 
“So the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When [a]Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.” -Exodus 33:11 (NASB)
 
We know that “the Lord” in this verse is YHVH manifest as the Son Yeshua (resurrected, transcendent, not preincarnate), because in all cases in the Tanakh where a human being sees God it is an encounter with either the Malakh HaShem (Samson's parents) or a the Man [Angel] (Jacob wrestled) that they see and not the unseen Father (albeit He is revealed in the Son). They do not see the unseen Father because:
 
“He further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” -Exodus 33:20 (NASB)
 
28 In faith, trust, assurance, belief he kept the Pesach[H] and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them. 
 
Ref. Exodus 12
 
Moses kept the Passover according to God’s instruction understanding the great cost being paid in order to save the lives of Israel’s first born.
 
Moses’s own firstborn son had come close to being killed by the Destroyer (Angel of the Lord) when he was returning to Egypt with Zipporah following his exile in Midian.
 
God does not abide hypocrisy, if the uncircumcised sons of Egypt were to suffer death as a result of Egypt’s guilt, how much more an uncircumcised son of Israel. Moses had not circumcised his son Gershom in covenant to HaShem according to the covenant of the fathers and was therefore putting his son at risk. An uncircumcised male was not considered a son of Israel.
 
Zipporah Moses’ Midianite wife rushed to circumcise their son, and as a result of her faith in the God of Israel Moses’ son was spared from the Destroyer, Angel of the Lord, the Lord Himself. Zipporah threw the bloody foreskin at the child’s feet signifying that the boy was to walk according to the faith of Israel, and thus his life was spared in a prefigurative prophetic action relating to the final plague that was to come against the firstborn of Egypt. Alternatively, the bloody foreskin was thrown at Moses feet to symbolize the sanctifying and sparing of Moses household wherever they walked. Either way, all of this prefigures the substitutionary death of the only begotten Son of God Yeshua the King Messiah.
 
Finally Zipporah cried out “You’re a Husband of blood to me”. Moses may be the subject of the pronouncement, but given he is likely not the subject of any of the other events pertaining to this exchange, the most likely subject of Zipporah’s pronouncement is the Angel of the Lord (Yeshua, manifest, resurrected, transcendent, not preincarnate).
 
For further study please read my commentary on Exodus 4:24-26
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary---15081497151214931513-1497150615111489/zipporahs-flint-knife-a-concise-interpretation-of-shemotexodus-424-26
 
I believe Moses further understood the symbolic significance of the blood of the Pesach lamb and its prefiguring of the suffering of the Messiah, which he has already been said to have considered of “greater worth than the temporal pleasures of Pharaoh’s palace.”
 
“Purge out therefore the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, for you are unleavened. For it is certain that Messiah our Pesach (lamb) is sacrificed for us:” -1 Corinthians 5:7
 
29 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) they passed through the Red Sea as though on dry land; and the Mitzrayim[H] (Egyptians – people of double distress), when they attempted it, were swallowed up, devoured, drowned (katapinō[G]). 30 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) the walls of Yeriychoh[H] (his moon, Jericho) fell down after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days.
 
29 In faith, trust, assurance, belief they passed through the Red Sea as though on dry land; and the Mitzrayim[H], when they attempted it, were swallowed up, devoured, drowned.
 
Ref. Exodus 14-15
 
It is worth noting that “he” (Moses) is said to have kept the Passover, whereas “they” (all Israel) passed through the Red Sea (Sea of Suph, Sea of Reeds). This can be understood as a remez (hint) that points to Messiah. “He” being the Pesach Lamb, the ultimate keeper of Passover, and “They” being those who follow Him through death (Red Sea) into life everlasting (Promised land). The plain meaning of the text denotes both individual and corporate saving faith. We accept Messiah in faith as individuals and our faith is connected to the community of believers.
 
This concludes the references to Moses, the writer having alluded to each 40 year section of Moses’ life. His exile and return from Midian, His leadership of the Israelites under the oppression of Pharoah, and finally, following the journey through the Red Sea, his 40 years of leading Israel in the wilderness toward the promised land. Moses died aged 120 in Moab (Deut. 34:1-7).
 
30 In faith, trust, assurance, belief the walls of Yeriychoh[H] fell down after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days.
 
Ref. Joshua 6:1-20
 
The writer now alludes to the corporate faith of Israel under the leadership of Yehoshua (Yeshua, Joshua, Jesus: YHVH is Salvation).
 
Moses led Israel to the promised land and Joshua led Israel into the promised land, crossing the Jordan as they had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. Once again, the crossing of the waters was a metaphor for death and the entering into the land a metaphor for everlasting life in the promised land of the Olam Haba (world to come). Joshua sharing his name with the future Messiah Yeshua Who would lead us through death and into life, make resurrection unto eternal life possible.
 
This is now the second time that corporate faith is mentioned. The faith of all those among the ancient Israelites who truly trusted in God. The lesson for the first century Jewish believers is that of seeing their personal faith as part of a corporate faith that unites them.
 
Several ancient Jewish commentators: Targum Yonatan, Yarchi, and Kimkhi re. Joshua. vi. 5. Describe the walls of Jericho sinking right down into the ground, and being completely swallowed up. The Septuagint says that the walls fell round about and the Masoretic text describes the walls falling flat (Joshua 6:20). Each of these accounts affirms and illuminates the other.
 
Yarchi and Kimkhi claim that the walls of Jericho fell on the Shabbat, and there is a strong likelihood of this given that the march around the walls is likely to have begun at Havdalah (distinction: the end of Shabbat at sundown) the seven days of the march concluding the following Shabbat when the walls fell.
 
31 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) the prostitute, fornicator, idolatress (pornē[G]) Rachav[H] (wide, broad, Rahab) did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace (beshalom[H]). 32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gid’on[H] (feller, cutter, hewer, warrior), Barak[H] (lightening flash) Shimshon[H] (like the sun), Yiphtach[H] (he opens), of David[H] (beloved) and Shemuel[H] (hears God, named for God) and the prophets, (nevi’im[H]) 
 
31 In faith, trust, assurance, belief the prostitute, fornicator, idolatress Rachav[H] did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
 
Ref. Joshua 2:1-21; 6:21-25; Matt. 1:5-6
 
“the prostitute Rachav” is a description of the lifestyle of Rachav prior to her entering the faith of Israel. Rachav did not perish because she was repentant and acknowledged the God of Israel as the One true God and deliverer of those who receive righteousness in Him. We know this because she was not among “those who were disobedient…” and instead “welcomed the spies” of Israel in peace.
 
The suggestion by many ancient Jewish scholars and some Christian theologians that Rachav was not a harlot but merely an innkeeper contradicts the Holy Spirit inspired writings of the Book to the Hebrews and the Book of Yaakov (James). The Hebrew “zonah” is from the root “zanah” which describes the act of fornication, adultery, prostitution and leaves no doubt that Rachav was a woman of the night. The use of the word “zonah” is so intrenched in the Hebrew psyche, that it remains a part of modern colloquial Hebrew vernacular, “Ben zonah” meaning, “Son of a whore”, equivalent to the English slang “Son of a bitch”.
 
Regardless of disagreements over Rachav’s occupation, both Jewish and Christian commentators agree that Rachav is a heroine of the faith (Sifre Numbers 78; Talmud Bavliy tractate Megillah 14b; Numbers Rabbah 8.b; Matt. 1:5; Jas. 2:25).
 
Part of Rachav’s journey toward salvation and faith was her decision to welcome and protect the spies of Israel the chosen people of HaShem. To despise God’s chosen people Israel is evidence that a person does not know the saving faith of Yeshua. Many today who claim to be Messiah followers, hate and actively speak out against the Jewish people and the modern state of Israel, proving by the fruit of their mouths to be without true faith.
 
The faith of Rachav is as important as the faith of Avraham. As I have stated previously, great faith is repentant faith.
 
Rachav, a foreigner and an idolater, being repentant, was not only welcomed into the family of Israel and the faith in God, she also become a forebear of the King Messiah Yeshua (Matt. 1:1-16).
 
In teaching that faith is evidenced by action Yaakov (James) writes:
 
“In the same way, is it not true that Rachav the prostitute was considered righteous given what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without right action proves to be dead.” -Yaakov (James) 2:25-26 (Author’s translation)
 
32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gid’on[H], Barak[H] Shimshon[H], Yiphtach[H], of David[H] and Shemuel[H] and the prophets,
 
This verse gives a concise account of the generational faith that stretches from the judges of Israel to the kings and prophets, in order to show that faith in God through Messiah is a common thread that runs through the leadership of the Jewish people, both political and religious.
 
Faith among the Judges (intermediary rulers)
 
Gideon (Judges 6-8)
Samson (Judges 13-16)
Jephthah (Judges 11-12)
 
General of Israel’s army (sub ruler, commander)
 
Barak (Judges 4-5)
 
 
The Faith of Kingship (rule of the king)
 
David
 
The faith of Prophets (spiritual rule)
 
Samuel (judge – prophets)
Prophets (all other prophets of God, not inclusive of false prophets who were faithless)
 
While this list of judges of Israel leaves out Ehud (Judges 3) and Deborah (Judges 4-5) among others (1 Sam. 12:11), those judges absent from the list are nonetheless implicitly included according to their equivalent faith they expressed in through belief in action.
 
a.     Gideon (Judges 6-8) Gideon was not perfect, he doubted God at times and at times demanded signs rather than trusting God’s clear direction. However he is perhaps best known for his trusting the Lord by sending away members of his fighting force reducing their number from 32,000 to 300 and then going to battle against a Midianite force of 50,000.
b.     Samson (Judges 13-16) Samson is known for many acts of strength in the defeat of Israel’s enemies, and for his ungodly lifestyle and lack of relational understanding of God and the role God had given him. However, he is listed here based on his repentant cry to God asking that he might use the last of his strength to tear down the pagan temple of the false god Dagon.
c.     Barak (Judges 4-5) The mention of Barak is in fact also a reference to the faith of Deborah and Yael. If not for the faith of Deborah, Barak would not have gone out to battle (Judges 4:8-9). And if not for the faith and courage of Yael the Kenite (not Israeli), Sisera the head of the enemy army would not have been captured and killed (Judges 4:16-23). This of course was ordered by God due to the initial doubting of Barak. However, Barak’s faith in the God of Deborah led to his entering saving faith and a personal relationship to God. Therefore, his faith is alluded to here as yet another example of repentant faith.
d.     Jephthah (Judges 11-12) Jephthah acted in sin by making a foolish vow, and then compounded his sin by acting on the sinful vow he had made. However, his faith in God enabled him and Israel’s armed forces to defeat the Ammonites. He is listed here to show the danger of allowing faithful vision to become clouded following victory. His faith is valid, but his lack of discernment in the aftermath of victory shows that at least for a time he took his eyes off of God and as a result he became responsible for the murder of his daughter.
e.     David’s life and faith are well documented and what stands out most is his consistent desire to be in intimate relationship with the Lord. Yes, David sinned and there were times when he distanced himself from God relationally by hardening his heart, but he was ever repentant, ever concerned with right relationship in God. David means “Beloved”, and He was one who loved God because God had first loved him. His truly repentant and all-consuming love for God is a wonderful example of true faith.
f.      Samuel’s life and actions are also well documented and his impeccable integrity unmatched. His faith actions included the slaying of Agag the king of the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:32-33) in order to honour the instruction of God which Saul had failed to obey. Samuel was grieved according to the heart of God when Israel asked for a king, though they already had the King YHVH. However, even Samuel, one of the greatest of Israel’s prophets failed to raise his sons in righteousness. In fact, the cry of Israel for a king was in part due to the wickedness of Samuel’s sons (1 Sam. 8). Therefore, Samuel, like all those listed here (in one way or another), is listed as both an example and a warning.
 
Those listed here are listed as both an example of true faith and as a warning against becoming distracted in faith. Further, they are listed as an example of the grace and mercy of God Who received these ones through Messiah in their repentance, and has given them  access to everlasting life in Him. The warning is “Don’t allow yourself to become distracted in your faith, keep your eyes on Messiah Yeshua unto God, and if you do become distracted, return in faith and receive God’s mercy.
 
33 who in faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 
 
33 who in faith, trust, assurance, belief conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 
 
These verses affirm the fact that the writer is talking in general terms about the ancient and common faith of both individuals and the collective of Israel and those foreigners who joined with Israel through faith in the God of Israel.
 
The deeds and accomplishments of both those already mentioned and others, who have not been mentioned by name are alluded to here in an effort to point to the One in Whom they have placed their trust, faith, certain belief. They have acted based on their faith, their right actions having come forth from God and being performed as acts of worship.
 
“conquered kingdoms” Moses conquered the kingdoms of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan (Num. 21:21-25). David conquered the kingdoms of Syria, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, Edom, and the Philistines (2 Sam. 8-12).
 
“performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises” All mentioned qualify.
 
“shut the mouths of lions” In response to Daniel’s faith God sent His angel to shut the mouths of the lions (Daniel 6:1-29).
 
“quenched the power of fire” In response to the faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego God quenched the power of fire (Daniel 3:1-30).
 
“escaped the edge of the sword” Among others Elijah and Elisha escaped the edge of the sword (1 Kings 17:8-24; 2 Kings 6:31).
 
“from weakness were made strong” This speaks of recovery from diseases and infirmity, such as was experienced by Hezekiah. It may also refer to the supernatural strength imparted to Samson.
 
“became mighty in war,” Barak, Gideon, David, and many others.
 
“put foreign armies to flight” Numerous pagan nations were put to flight by Joshua, the Judges, David, and others.
 
We note that these victories and miraculous deliverances are followed in the next verses by the suffering, trials and deaths of others who were faithful.
 
35 Women received back their dead by resurrection (anastasis[G]); and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection (anastasis[G]); 36 and others experienced mocking and flogging, and further, chains and imprisonment. 
 
35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mocking and flogging, and further, chains and imprisonment.
 
“Women received back their dead by resurrection” The widow of Zarephath and the woman of Shunem received back their dead resurrected by God through the faith of Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:8-24; 2 Kings 4:8-37). Yeshua raised the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue leader (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43), and Lazarus, the brother to Miriyam and Marta (John 11:1-44).
 
“others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;” During the oppression of Israel by Antiochus Epiphanes the principle scribe Eleazer refused to compromise his faith and was executed believing he would obtain a better resurrection (2 Maccabees 6:18-31). The Mother and her seven sons all of whom died for their faith at the hand of the wicked Antiochus Epiphanes, hoped to attain a better resurrection (2 Maccabees 7).
 
“Now when this man was dead also, they tormented and mangled the fourth in like manner. So when he was ready to die he said thus, It is good, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God to be raised up again by him: as for thee, thou shalt have no resurrection to life.” -2 Maccabees 7:13-14 (KJV)
 
“others experienced mocking and flogging, and further, chains and imprisonment.” Many of the aforementioned were also flogged and chained, imprisoned and the like. Joseph was imprisoned (Gen. 39:20). Samson was chained, Micaiah the prophet was stuck (1 Kings 22:24) and Jeremiah imprisoned (Jeremiah 20:2-7; 37:15). John the immerser was imprisoned and died for his faith (Matthew 11:2–7, 14:6–12; Mark 1:14, 6:17–29; Luke 3:19–20, 7:18–25, 9:9; John 3:24; Jewish Antiquities 18. 5. 2.), and Yeshua himself also suffered all these things (John 19:1-3; Mark 15:1-9).
 
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, examined, proved (peirazō[G]), they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented  38 (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.
 
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, examined, proved, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented  38 (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.
 
“They were stoned” The righteous man Naboth was stoned to death by order of Ahab (1 Kings 21:13). By the command of Joash, Zechariah was stoned to death in the Temple court between the porch and the altar (2 Chron. 24:20-22; Matt. 23:35). Stephen the first Messianic Jewish martyr was stoned to death and died believing he would receive a better resurrection (Acts 7:59-60).
 
“they were sawn in two” Outside of extra-Biblical Jewish tradition there is no record of servants of God being sawn in two. However, the words of Yeshua recorded in the New Testament infer that the punishment of sawing in two was familiar to the first century Jewish community (Matt. 24:50-51). Jewish tradition asserts that Isaiah the prophet was sawn in two at the command of Manasseh king of Judah:
 
“The teachings of Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov measure only a kav but are clean and accurate, and so the halakha is decided in accordance with his opinions. And it was written in it: Manasseh, king of Israel, killed Isaiah the prophet… Isaiah said to himself: I know him, i.e., Manasseh, that he will not accept whatever explanation that I will say to him to resolve my prophecies with the words of the Torah. And even if I say it to him, I will make him into an intentional transgressor since he will kill me anyway. Therefore, in order to escape, he uttered a divine name and was swallowed within a cedar tree. Manasseh’s servants brought the cedar tree and sawed through it in order to kill him. When the saw reached to where his mouth was, Isaiah died. He died specifically as this point due to that which he said: “In the midst of a people of unclean lips, I dwell” (Isaiah 6:5).”
 
-Talmud Bavliy, Yevamot 49b .6 & .8 (The William Davidson Talmud)
 
“they were tempted, examined, proved” All mentioned qualify.
 
“they were put to death with the sword” Daniel 11:33 prophecies that righteous ones of understanding will die by the sword among other methods of executions. the priests at Nob died by the sword according to the order of king Saul (1 Sam. 22:18). The prophets of the Lord died by the sword at the order of Jezebel (Ahab) (1 Kings 18:22), and others suffered the same fate during the occupation of Israel by the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes. In the first century C.E. Yochanan (John) the Immerser (Baptist) was beheaded at the command of Herod the tetrarch (Matt. 14; Mark 6:14-29).
 
“they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented 38 (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.” This is an accurate observation of the life of Yochanan the Immerser (John the Baptist)[Matt. 3:4], and of the ancient prophets Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:6, 18:4, 19:13; 2 Kings 2:14), and of the many Jews who fled the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Maccabees 2:38). It can also be considered a description of Yeshua, Who had “nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58).
 
“And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.” -2 Maccabees 10:6 (KJV)
 
39 And all these, having gained a good report upon their faith (pistis[G], al-emunatam[H]), did not receive what was promised, messaged (epaggelia[G], hahavtachot[H]), 40 because the God (ho Theos[G], ha Elohiym[H]) had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect, complete, consecrated (teleioō[G]).
 
39 And all these, having gained a good report upon their faith, did not receive what was promised, messaged, 
 
They each died not yet having come into the fullness of the promised eternal land, but seeing it from a distance in faith and being certain in hope of its future fulfilment.
 
40 because the God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect, complete, consecrated.
 
The reason that the kingdom of God is revealed as now and yet to be fully manifest is that with regard to time and space God is allowing the fullness of chronology to reach its goal so that all who have, and all who will live and accept His loving offer of redemption, might share together in the completion, consecration and perfection of the body of Messiah.
 
The “something better” referred to here is the entry into time and space of the King Messiah, Who by living perfectly, dying sacrificially and resurrecting victoriously, makes perfect in holiness all those who receive Him, past, present and future, so that together they become one people in right relationship with God and with one another.
 
“so that apart from us they would not be made perfect” The righteousness of the tzadikim (saints) of the Tanakh (OT) is, like that of those of the time of the writing of this work, and like that of those of us who now receive it, purchased not by our works but by faith through grace, a gift of God made manifest through the saving work of Yeshua the King Messiah (Eph. 2:8-9).
 
In short, no one is perfected except in Yeshua the King Messiah for the glory of God everlasting.
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown

Introduction:
 
It is for good reason that this chapter of the Book to the Hebrews is known as the faith chapter. The word faith is used 24 times and the phrase “in faith” (ba-emunah[H]) 21 times.
 
What is abundantly clear is that faith in God through the King Messiah was, is and until His return, will be the only assurance of the certain hope of everlasting life.
 
Without doubt faith cannot exist, but for the believer, even our temporal doubts point to faith. Therefore, Messiah in us firmly establishes that which we hope for in Him.
 
The One through Whom the seen things were created reveals to us the unseen reality of everlasting life through Him, in God the Father.
 
The writer of this work, inspired by the Ruach HaKodesh, gives numerous examples of the kind of faith he is speaking of, which is seen throughout Israel’s history and from before her inception in the lives of her God fearing forefathers.
 
This is an encouragement to those suffering at the time of the writing of this work, and for we who are presently going through trials as followers of Yeshua, because it is evidence of faith maintained through trials, difficult circumstances, exile, wandering and loss.
 
The first century Jewish followers of Yeshua, and we who are presently receiving Him, are instructed by this work to remember their forebears and hold on to their faith, trusting in God for the promised Olam Haba (world to come) in spite of their ability to see that inheritance with corporeal human sight.
 
Last verses of Hebrews 10:
 
38 But My righteous one will live by faith; [Hab. 2:4] And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” [LXX and a summation of Hab. 2:5-20]  [Hebrew text of Habakkuk 2:4: “Behold, now, pay attention, he is lifted up (has drawn back through pride) and is not upright in his soul, behold, and the just/righteous, by his faith shall he live.”] 39 But we are not among those who draw back [through pride per Heb. Hab. 2:4] to destruction, damnation, but of those who have faith, trust, belief for obtaining the salvation, preservation of our souls.
 
HEBREWS 11:1-20 (Author’s translation)
 
1Now the faith, trust, assurance, belief is hope established in the certainty of, that which stands under things that are evidence of what can’t be looked at with corporeal eyes. 2 For in it the elders, ancestors, fathers of old gained a good testimony. 3 In faith, trust, assurance, belief we understand that the worlds have been made, joined, perfected, framed in the spoken Word, essence of God so that what is seen with corporeal eyes, has not been made out of things that are visible. 4 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Hevel[H] [Abel] brought to the God a better sacrifice than Kayin[H] [Cain], through which he gained a good testimony that he was a righteous, just one, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith (it), though he is dead, he still speaks. 5 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Chanok[H] [Enoch] was translated, transferred so that he would not see, know death; and he was not found because God translated, transferred, took away him [Gen.5:24]; for before his translation, transference, he had this testimony that he pleased, was well with the God. 6 And without faith, trust, assurance, belief it is impossible to please, be well with God, for the one who comes near to the God must believe, trust that He exists, and that He proves to be a rewarder of those who diligently seek, search for Him. 7 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Noach[H], being warned by God about things not yet seen with corporeal eyes, in fear prepared an ark, box for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the wickedness of the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to the faith, trust, assurance, belief. 8 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Avraham[H] (Father of a great people), when he was called, to go to the land which he was to receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he left, not knowing where he was going. 9 In faith, trust, assurance, belief he sojourned, lived as a foreigner in the land of the promise, message, as if in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Yitzchak[H] [Isaac] and Yaakov[H] [Jacob], fellow heirs of the same promise, message; 10 for he was looking, expecting, waiting for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is the God. 11 In faith, trust, assurance, belief even Sarah[H] herself received strength, ability, miraculous power to conceive, make the foundation of a child being seeded brought forth when she was past age, because she considered Him faithful Who had promised, messaged. 12 Therefore even from one man, and one who was as good as dead, there were birthed descendants who were as the stars of heavens in multitudes, and as the sand by the seashore, uncountable. 13 All these died in faith, trust, assurance, belief, without receiving the promises, but having seen, known, understood from a distance, and were persuaded, had confidence, trusted, and embraced, welcomed, greeted them, having professed that they were strangers and exiles, resident foreigners in the land. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a native land. 15 And certainly if they had been remembering the land which they left, they would have had a season, opportunity, an affinity for returning. 16 But now, they desire a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore the God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. 17 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Avraham[H], when he was examined, proved, brought up Yitzchak[H] [Isaac], and the one who had received the promises was offering up his only son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “Through Yitzchak[H] your seed shall be called.” [Gen. 21:12] 19 He considered that the God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type, figure, parable. 20 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Yitzchak[H] blessed Yaakov[H] and Esav[H], even regarding things to come.
 
HEBREWS 11:1-20 (line upon line)
 
1Now the faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ha-emunah[H]) is hope (elpizo[G]) established in the certainty (hupostasis[G]) of, that which stands under things (pragma[G], devariym[H]) that are evidence (elegchos[G])  of what can’t be looked at with corporeal eyes (blepo[G], niriym[H]). 2 For in it the elders, ancestors, fathers of old (presbuteros[G], ha’avot[H]) gained a good testimony (martureō[G], shehuadah[H]). 3 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) we understand (noieo[G], naviyn[H]) that the worlds (aion[G], haolamot[H]) have been made, joined, perfected, framed (katartizō[G], na’asu[H]) in the spoken Word, essence (rhema[G], bidvar[H]) of God (Theos[G], ha-Elohiym[H]) so that what is seen with corporeal eyes (blepo[G], hanireh[H]), has not been made out of things that are visible (phainō[G], min-hanelam[H]). 
 
1Now the faith, trust, assurance, belief is hope established in the certainty of, that which stands under things that are evidence of what can’t be looked at with corporeal eyes. 
 
The Greek pistis is equivalent to the Hebrew emunah and conveys more than mental assent or belief in an idea. The faith being spoken of here is a committed, ongoing, assurance of belief and trust in God through Yeshua the King Messiah.
 
Faith in Yeshua does not fear doubt but consumes it turning it into fuel for the fire of certainty. Because faith is given to the believer by God it is returned to God in relationship. No one can come to the Father except through Yeshua and no one can receive Yeshua except by the revelation of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) Who is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. We love Him because He first loved us (with an everlasting love), we have faith in Him because He created in us the possibility of faith.
 
Faith, as the text says, is “hope established in certainty”! Certainty is possible only because God exists and has subjugated chaos, a symptom of rebellion, made possible by the need for freewill in order for love to be manifest and reciprocated.
 
Our hope in Messiah is established in the foundation of those things unseen, eternal, of the Creator, things preceding and succeeding or proceeding after the sin affected created order.
 
Faith in God through Yeshua is itself the evidence of the promised inheritance of eternal life in God. This sets the stage for the remainder of this chapter and a good portion of the following chapter.
 
This faith gives the believer the ability to see in spirit what cannot be seen with corporeal human sight.
 
Just as wind is evidence of the existence of unseen air, so faith is evidence of the life giving Spirit of God. Faith is the wind of the new creation, evidence of a form of air so pure that it cannot be polluted.
 
Put simply:
 
Faith, trust, committed belief, is being certain of what we hope for and convinced of what we cannot presently see with corporeal human sight.
 
As proof the writer of the Book to the Hebrews goes on to give examples of this same faith made manifest in the God fearing forefathers of Israel. Showing that the faith in question transcends the boundaries of time and space because the God in Whom this faith is placed is unbound by the sin affected created order.
 
2 For in it the elders, ancestors, fathers of old gained a good testimony.
 
The faith of the God fearing forefathers of Israel is a good testimony offered to encourage the recipients of this work. The faith of the forefathers, like the saving faith in Messiah Yeshua, is a faith that endures hardship, persecution, even disappointment of not seeing a certain thing come to pass in this temporal life. It is a transcendent faith that will yet see its reward.
 
The faith in question is faith in God through the King Messiah Yeshua. Therefore, when the text says, “For in it (faith) the fathers of old gained good report”, it means that the fathers of Israel had faith in the King Messiah prior to His entry into time and space as the virgin born Son of God. Just one of many instances where systematic dispensationalism falls apart at the seams.
 
The example of the forefathers affirms the teaching of the Book to the Hebrews, which makes a connection between faith and salvation (Heb. 11:7), and between faith and pleasing God (Heb. 11:5-6).
 
It is unwise to say as some do that “faith is the sole base for human merit”. This borders on blasphemy. Human merit results from Messiah’s merit and is made possible through faith, but not by it. We are saved “by grace through faith” (Eph. 2:8-9) and according to that faith we are accredited the righteousness of Messiah, and not our own righteousness.
 
When the Scripture says, “And he (Avraham) believed, trusted in the LORD  and he (The Lord) counted  it (faith in Messiah) to him for righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3) It is saying that Avraham received God’s redemptive offer in Messiah before Messiah was born and that Avraham therefore received the righteousness of Messiah as a result of that faith. Faith was the vehicle, Messiah’s blood was the means.
 
3 In faith, trust, assurance, belief we understand that the worlds have been made, joined, perfected, framed in the spoken Word, essence of God so that what is seen with corporeal eyes, has not been made out of things that are visible.
 
“1In the beginning (En arkhay[G] In the Origin, Be’reishit[H] In the head/front/Leader) was the Word, Essence, Substance, Utterance, Manifestation (Logos[G], Davar[H], Memra[RA], Miltha[A]) and the Word was with the God (Ho-Theos[G], Ha-Elohim[H]), and God was that Word. 2 The same was in the beginning with the God.” -John 1:1-2 (Author’s translation)
 
Yochanan firmly anchors his Gospel account in the Torah (Books of Moses) and the wider body of Hebrew Scripture the Tanakh (OT).
 
Both Genesis (Tanakh) and John (NT) begin (no pun intended) with the phrase “In the Beginning”. This is why the Hebrew title of the book of Genesis is Be’reishit, which is the first word of Genesis, a compound word made up of Ba (In the) and Reishit (From Rosh, meaning head, leader, front).
 
It is interesting to note that this theme of beginning influenced the Egyptian Coptic order of the New Testament, which places John at the beginning. The Egyptian Coptic New Testament Gospels book order being John, Matthew, Mark, Luke.
 
With regard to the Hebrew text of both Be’reishit (Genesis) and Yochanan (John), we may read Be’reishit as, “In the Head”, the “Head” of the Universe (All creation) being YHVH, God Himself. Therefore, as in the case of Genesis, John’s Gospel begins in God, the Creator and Head of all things. This is of significance to Messiah followers, who have accepted that Yeshua our King Messiah is the “Head” of the body of believers (Ephesians 5:23).
 
“In the beginning was the Word” (John. 1:1) is synonymous with “In the beginning… Elohim said (spoken Word)” (Gen. 1:1, 3). Thus, John establishes the all existing, uncreated, pre-existent nature of the Word. The Word being the manifest essence of God Himself, anthropomorphically issuing from God’s mouth.
 
The alternative Orthodox Jewish English translation of Genesis 1:1, which reads, “When God began to create…” further establishing the existence of the Word prior to all of the created order.
 
The Hebrew text of Genesis 1:1 reads:
 
“Be’reishit In the beginning (head) bara creating (from nothing), Elohim God (Judge) et (Aleph-Tav, the Alphabet, that which forms all words), ha-shamayim the heavens v’et (and Aleph-Tav) ha-aretz the earth (land).”
 
“I am the Aleph and the Tav, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the goal… I, Yeshua, have sent my messenger to give you this testimony for the believing communities. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” - Revelation 22:13, 16 (Author’s translation)
 
Therefore, the remez (hint) found in the “et” (Aleph-Tav) of Genesis 1:1, is a further illumination of the words of Yochanan (John) 1:1, and points us to Yeshua.
 
God is seen throughout the Tanakh (OT) creating, calling, instructing and relating through His Word. Yishayahu (Isaiah) says:
 
“Kiy ka’asher yeireid For as the coming down of hageshem the rain vehasheleg and the snow min-hashamayim from the heavens ve’shamah and there lo yashuv do not return kiy until they hirvah satiate, satisfy the thirst of et-haaretz the earth (land), veholiydah and it brings forth vehitzmiychah and sprouts, venatan and gives zera seed lazoreia to the sower velechem and bread laocheil to the eater, Kein yihyeh So will it come to pass that Devariy My Word asher yeitzei which goes out mipiy from My mouth; lo-yashuv will not return eiliy to Me reiykam void, empty, vainly, kiy for im-asah rather, it will accomplish, make, fashion (asah, from something) that which chafatztiy I delight in, desire, am pleased with, take pleasure in, vehitzliyach and will rush, advance, prosper, succeed in asher that for which shelachtiyv I sent it.” -Isaiah 55:10-11 (Author’s translation)
 
“the Word was with the God, and God was that Word.” The writer is clear, the Word is both with God and at the same time God. Contrary to popular teaching, this was not an entirely alien concept in first century Judaism.
 
The idea of the Word (Logos[G], Davar[H] Memra[RA], Miltha[A]) being intrinsically linked to God was not a foreign concept to first century Judaism. Philo of Alexandria a.k.a Yedideyah Ha-Cohen (Jedidiah the priest), a Jewish philosopher who lived from 20 B.C.E (B.C) to 50 C.E (A.D) wrote:
 
“The most universal of all things is God; and in second place, the word of God.” -Philo of Alexandria Allegorical Interpretation II, 86
 
The Aramaic Jerusalem Targum, codified in the second century C.E (A.D) renders the text of Genesis 3:8 as:
 
“…they heard the voice of the word of the Lord God walking in the garden… and Adam and his wife hid themselves from before the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” -Jerusalem Targum (Genesis 3:8)
 
Using the Rabbinical Aramaic word Memra in place of the Hebrew Davar in the same Aramaic Targum, the writer renders Genesis 19:24 as:
 
“And the Word (Memra) of the Lord Himself had made to descend upon the people of Sodom and Gomora… fire from before the Lord from the heavens.” -Jerusalem Targum 19:24
 
The Talmud also understands the Messiah as pre-existent, though not all existing/uncreated:
 
“It was taught that seven things were created before the world was created; they are the Torah, repentance, the Garden of Eden, Gehinnom, the Throne of Glory, the Temple, and the name of the Messiah… The name of the Messiah, as it is written: ‘May his name (Messiah) endure forever, may his name produce issue prior to the sun’ (Psalm 72:17).” -Pesachim 54a, N’darim 39a; and Midrash on Psalm 93:3
 
The Jewish convert and commentator Onkelos wrote the following paraphrase (110 C.E/A.D) in his commentary on Genesis 28:20:
 
"if the word of the Lord will be my help, and will keep me, the word of the Lord shall be my God:” -Paraphrase Genesis 28:20 Onkelos (35-120 CE/AD)
 
The second century Targums of Yonatan and Yerushalayim paraphrase certain texts as referring to the Memra (Word[RA]):
 
"I will cause the glory of my Shekinah to dwell among you, and my word shall be your God, the Redeemer;” -Targum Yonatan Leviticus 26:12
 
"out of thee, before me, shall come forth the Messiah, that he may exercise dominion over Israel; whose name is said from eternity, from the days of old.” -Targum Yonatan Micah 5:2
 
"ye have made the word of the Lord king over you this day, that he may be your God:” -Targum Yerushalayim Deuteronomy 26:17
 
In stating that “the Word was with the God, and God was that Word” Yochanan is expressing the Hebrew understanding of “both and” rather than the limited Greco-Roman thinking of “either or”. In this respect Yochanan’s Gospel establishes itself in Biblical Hebrew thought from the outset. Therefore, failing to understand Yochanan’s words from a Hebraic mindset will lead to misinterpretation and limited understanding on the part of the student of this Gospel.
 
“He (Yeshua) is wrapped in a garment immersed in blood, and He is called by the name Ho-Logos[G] (Ha-Davar[H]) the Word, Ho-Theos[G] (Ha-Elohim[H]) the God.” -Revelation 19:13 (Author’s translation)
 
Yeshua (YHVH Saves), Ha-Davar (the Word, Essence) Ha-Elohim (the God, Judge, Ruler) Imanu (With us) El (God).
 
For further study see my article on the Gospel according to John Chapter 1:
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary---15081497151214931513-1497150615111489/yochanan-the-good-news-according-to-john-introduction-chapter-1
 
so that what is seen with corporeal eyes, has not been made out of things that are visible.
 
God has neither beginning nor end, He is eternal, all existing, not created. Yeshua likewise is all existing, not created. God is one.
 
The things created within the created order have a beginning and must be made from something, matter, substance, something. But God created the natural order from nothing, the Latin ex nihilo describing well the meaning of the action described in Genesis 1:1 “Berieshit bara Elohiym”
 
The writer of the Book to the Hebrews explains that this cannot be understood by any other means than faith in God through Messiah. In other words, science can’t comprehend it, intellectual acumen can’t comprehend it, philosophy can’t comprehend it. Only the faith described here can comprehend the creation. We see the truth of this in the inability of scientists, even first cause scientists, to explain how something can be created out of nothing. They cannot, they will not. God has explained it already. It is an understanding of faith, something that all the intellectual prowess in the world put together could never conceive of.
 
4 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Hevel[H] [Abel] (vapour) brought (prospherō[G]) to the God (ho Theos[G], leiElohiym[H]) a better sacrifice (thusia[G], zevach tov[H]) than Kayin[H] (Cain) (spear), through which he gained a good testimony (martureō[G], l’eidot[H]) that he was (einai[G]) a righteous, just one (dikaios[G], tzadiyk[H]), God (Theos[G], Elohiym[H]) testifying (martureō[G], behaiyd[H]) about his gifts (dōron[G], al-minchotayv[H]), and through faith (it), though he is dead (apothnēskō[G], moto[H]), he still speaks (laleō[G], achareiy[H]).
 
4 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Hevel[H] [Abel] brought to the God a better sacrifice than Kayin[H] [Cain], through which he gained a good testimony that he was a righteous, just one, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith (it), though he is dead, he still speaks.
 
Genesis 4:1-16 gives the account of Cain and Abel.
 
The writer begins his list of faithful servants of God with Abel because he is the first example in Torah, following the fall of humanity, of one who acts in faith according to the redemptive purposes of God.
 
“In faith, trust, assurance, belief Abel brought to the God a better sacrifice than Cain” Abel’s sacrifice was of a first born of his flock and the fat (best) portions, a blood sacrifice for the atonement of sin, meaning that he understood that without the shedding of blood there could be no atonement. Therefore, his sacrifice was better than that of Cain, who brought vegetables, and by implication, not the best of his harvest.
 
Some protest the treatment of Cain, saying, “If all he had to give was fruit, why did the Lord not accept Cain’s offering?” (Gen. 4:4-5)The answer is not in the impugning of God’s character but in the evidence provided in the text concerning the fruit (pun intended) of the faith of Cain verses the fruit of the faith of Abel.
 
The text of the Torah explains that while Cain brought an offering “from the fruit of the ground”, Abel brought an offering “from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions.” By implication Cain did not bring the best of his produce whereas not only did Abel bring the best but he also understood by faith that blood atonement was needed.
 
The later instructions of Torah given at Sinai concerning offerings performed by the Levitical priesthood affirm the fact that with the exception of grain offerings, fruit and vegetables are not offered on the altar.
 
The spiritual knowledge Abel possessed could only have come from intimate relationship with God through faith, whereas the actions of Cain show him to be in rebellion against God. Nonetheless, God affords Cain and opportunity for repentance (Gen. 4:6-7), and Cain goes directly out after hearing the instruction from God to act rightly and instead murders his brother Abel (Gen. 4:8).
​
“10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: [d]anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister. 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we are to love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And for what reason did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil, but his brother’s were righteous.” -1 John 3:10-12 (NASB)
“God testifying about his gifts” (Gen. 4:4-5) God accepted Abel and his offering but did not accept the offering of unfaithful Cain.
 
“though he is dead, he still speaks.” His faithful actions still speak to us. Additionally, and metaphorically, the blood of Abel still cries out from the ground along with the blood of all those who have suffered death at the hands of the unjust (Gen. 4:10; Matt. 23:35; ).
 
The focus here is on the faith of Abel, and the unspoken counterpoint is that of the faithlessness of Cain.
 
Abel’s faith, trust and belief brought the kind of sacrifice that pointed to the coming of the Messiah and His eternally effective sacrifice. Therefore the good testimony and acceptance Abel received from God was not because of the sacrifice Abel offered, nor his faith but because he received God’s redemptive offer in Messiah before Messiah was born.
 
Abel therefore, received the righteousness of Messiah as a result of his faith. Faith and sacrifice were the response of Abel to the redemptive offer of God, Messiah’s blood was the means of Abel’s reconciliation. Faith in God is reliant on God, whereas faith in and of itself is incapable of producing a reliable result.
 
5 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Chanok[H] [Enoch] (dedicated, inaugurated) was translated, transferred (metatithēmi[G]) so that he would not see, know (eido[G], reoto[H]) death (Thanatos[G], hamavet[H]); and he was not found because God translated, transferred, took away (metatithēmi[G], lakach[H]) him [Gen.5:24]; for before his translation, transference (metathesis[G]), he had this testimony (martureō[G], vehuad[H]) that he pleased, was well with (euaresteō[G]) the God (ho Theos[G], haElohiym[H]). 6 And without faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], emunah[H]) it is impossible to please, be well with (euaresteō[G]) God, for the one who comes near (proserchomai[G]) to the God (ho Theos[G], haElohiym[H]) must believe, trust (pisteuō[G], sheya’amiyn[H]) that He exists, and that He proves to be a rewarder of those who diligently seek, search for (ekzēteō[G]) Him. 
 
5 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Chanok[H] [Enoch] was translated, transferred so that he would not see, know death; and he was not found because God translated, transferred, took away him [Gen.5:24]; for before his translation, transference, he had this testimony that he pleased, was well with the God. 
 
“And walked Chanok with the Elohiym and he was not, for Elohiym took him away” -Bereishit (Genesis) 5:24
 
The list of faithful ones began with Abel who offered a blood sacrifice acknowledging the need for atonement, and continues with an example of one who based on that atonement is translated so that death is overcome. This is the very essence of the Gospel played out in the historical account of individuals of true faith. Through His blood Messiah has swallowed up death with victory.
 
Chanok, whose name means “dedicated”, was both dedicated to God in relationship (the true definition of love) and is a sign for future believers of God’s dedication to them and His dedicating of a people redeemed through the blood of His son, prefigured in the sacrifice offered by Abel.
 
Many pause here to argue the finer details of Chanok’s translation in order to work out how they too might translate. That is a mistake. Becoming enamoured by the ability to transfer or translate is idolatry.
 
Chanok was not concerned with translating but with God.
 
The supernatural and miraculous signs that God performs upon, within and around the righteous are not the result of the practices of the righteous but of the relationship God has with those righteous ones, who have received righteousness in Messiah and not of their own works.
 
Those who seek to emulate miracles rather than focus on God in Messiah, will eventually, if unrepentant, become like those spoken of by Yeshua:
 
“22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” -Matthew 7:22-23 (NASB)
 
Motivation is key because it is the fruit of the heart (core being). A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.
 
With regard to lawlessness, the only thing worse than practicing witchcraft, is using the Scripture as a tool for practice witchcraft and then calling is Christianity.
 
Note that Chanok “was well with God”. This regards his relationship in God. God’s testimony of Chanok has to do with right relationship, not deeds.
 
The Jerusalem Targum (2nd Century Aramaic text) agrees that Chanok was translated by the Word (Yeshua) of God.
 
"and Enoch worshipped in truth before the Lord; and lo, he was not, for he was translated by the Word from before the Lord;'' -Targum Yerushalayim
 
As an aside, it is important to note that Chanok is not said to ascend but to have been “taken away”. Those who claim that he ascended are misreading the Biblical texts.
 
6 And without faith, trust, assurance, belief it is impossible to please, be well with God, for the one who comes near to the God must believe, trust that He exists, and that He proves to be a rewarder of those who diligently seek, search for Him. 
 
“without faith, trust, assurance, belief it is impossible to please, be well with God,” The English word “please” and the phrase “be well with” are synonymous ways of translating the Greek euaresteō. In short, where the writer of this text uses the Greek euaresteō he is denoting right relationship in God rather than a form of pleasing that results from winning approval.
 
In Messiah we are approved and as a result we act in a pleasing way. The reverse is not true.
 
“for the one who comes near to the God must believe, trust that He exists” This is both simple and profound. The child comprehends it but the self-convinced atheist does not.
 
To call Atheism rational is delusional. It is entirely irrational to disregard even the smallest possibility of deity. Few things are as intellectually dishonest as the philosophy of Atheism. Even those who believe in a God or gods have their doubts. Without doubt faith is impossible. On the other hand Atheism claims no doubt, but is absolutely certain that what is possible (God) is impossible.
 
The agnostic may be slightly more honest but is nonetheless equally deluded. To be indefinitely undecided is as intellectually dishonest as being firmly convinced of a lie.
 
We note that belief in the One true God of Israel is being addressed here, and not belief in any other form of deity or first cause or science or philosophy.
 
“and that He proves to be a rewarder of those who diligently seek, search for Him.” Our faith in God through Messiah is never asked of us blindly. We have proof that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Throughout the history of the Jewish people we have seen God’s faithful acts of love and provision born of His holiness. “He proves to be a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. And what is diligence? The practice of those who are committed to love relationship with Him through Messiah.
 
“28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, make, so that we may be working, trading in, performing the works, tasks, deeds of the God?” 29 Yeshua answered and said to them, “This is the work, task, deed of the God, that you continue to believe, trust, have faith in Him Whom He has sent.” -Habesorah Al Piy Yochanan 6:28-29 (YBY translation)
“Therefore” Because Yeshua had offered eternal life above and beyond the miraculous sign they had witnessed of Him. And, because they had some sense of Yeshua’s authority based on His signs and words.
 
“What shall we do, make, so that we may be working, trading in, performing the works, tasks, deeds of the God?” The question shows that they have not understood Yeshua at all. Yeshua is offering redemption, relationship, eternal life, the strength of God at work in them, a gift to be received, but the people are looking for something they can build, accomplish, achieve in their own strength in order to make them right with God. Their focus is on “doing” rather than “being”. They say, “What shall we do, so that we can accomplish the works of God” and Yeshua completely reverses their question and defeats their paradigm with a very simple and eternally profound instruction:
 
“The works of God are this, that you continue to believe in Him Whom He has sent”. In short, “Be in Me, don’t do for Me. Your doing must come from Me.” Objects are for use, persons are for relationship.
 
Many fall from the faith because they do not understand this simple truth. Many more retain faith but become burned out and unfruitful because they don’t understand this simple truth.
Yeshua is pointing His hearers back to the Torah and the Word (ha-Davar: John 1:1) of God spoken to their forebears through Moses:
 
“For near to you all is Ha-Davar (The Word), meod, very much so, in your mouth, and in your inner being, so that you might accomplish, do, act accordingly.” -D’variym (Words) Deuteronomy 30:14
 
Notice that The Word is offered to the inner person and that it is from the strength of The Word in each one that each one works, accomplishes, acts. Yeshua is Ha-Davar, the Word, Essence, Substance of God, with us.
 
It is interesting to note that by summing up the 613 commandments of the Torah with this one phrase “the just shall live by his faith” (Hab.2:4), the Talmud agrees with Yeshua’s assertion that to have faith is the work of God (Talmud Bavliy Makkot, fol. 23. 2. & 24. 1.)
 
“And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” -Jeremiah 29:13 (NASB)
 
7 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Noach[H] (rest), being warned (chrēmatizō[G]) by God about things (devariym[H]) not yet seen with corporeal eyes (blepo[G], niriym[H]), in fear (eulabeomai[G], nizhar[H]) prepared an ark, box (kibōtos[G]) for the salvation (sōtēria[G], l’hatziyl[H]) of his household (oikos[G], beiyto[H]), by which he condemned the wickedness of (katakrinō[G], vayarsha[H]) the world (kosmos[G], haolam[H]), and became an heir of the righteousness (hatz’dakah[H]) which is according to the faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ha-emunah[H]).
 
7 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Noach[H], being warned by God about things not yet seen with corporeal eyes, in fear prepared an ark, box for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the wickedness of the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to the faith, trust, assurance, belief.
 
God’s warning is evidence of His faithfulness. Noah’s obedience is evidence of his relational faith in God. Noah, living in a landlocked region, nonetheless obeyed God in spite of how foolish his actions may have seemed, even to his own family.
 
Like Noah the faith of the first century Jewish Messiah followers must grapple with the reality that they cannot see with human eyes what the future holds. This is also true of all believers today. We need not hear God’s audible voice or see some vision in order to determine what He is saying. His Word both written and living continues to speak to us. Are we listening and acting?
 
We note that Noah understood the building of the ark as a vehicle for the salvation of his household and that by building it in obedience to God his right action sealed the fate of the wicked.
 
Likewise, those who receive Messiah, by doing so affirm the fate of those who reject Messiah. This is why those who reject Messiah have such great hatred for the believer. Being aware of the emptiness of their own false deities and philosophies, they despise those who live lives of certain hope in Messiah.
 
“The believer in Him is not separated, condemned, put asunder: but the disbeliever, one who has chosen disbelief is separated, condemned, put asunder already, because he has not believed, trusted in, become convinced of the name, identity of the One and only begotten the Son of the God.” -John 3:18 (Author’s translation)
 
Righteous behaviour is an indictment against sin:
 
“Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink: for by doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head (judgement). Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” -Romans 12:20-21 (Author’s translation)
 
It is interesting to note that Jewish tradition records that Noah preached repentance to his generation (Mekhilta Shirah 5; Sifre Num. 23; Talmud Bavliy Sanhedrin 108a - b; Pirke R. El. 22.)
 
Noah is the first person that the Torah calls “righteous” (Gen. 6:9). Like Enoch, Noah “walked with God”, a phrase denoting right relationship.
 
We note that in one sense the ark or box built by Noah reflects a coffin and that Noah and his family passed through the waters (a symbol of the domain of the departed – Sheol) and into life. The history of Noah and the flood is one of the many immersions (baptisms) throughout Scripture that allude to death and resurrection, and point to the redemptive work of Yeshua the King Messiah.
 
8 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Avraham[H] (Father of a great people), when he was called (kaleō[G], nikra[H]), to go to the land (ha’aretz[H]) which he was to receive for an inheritance, obeyed (hupakouō[G]); and he left, not knowing where he was going. 9 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) he sojourned, lived as a foreigner (paroikeō[G]) in the land (be’eretz[H]) of the promise, message (epaggelia[G], hahavtachah[H]), as if in a foreign land (allotrios[G]), dwelling (katoikeō[G], vayishev[H]) in tents (skēnē[G], beohaliym[H]) with Yitzchak[H] [Isaac] (he laughs) and Yaakov[H] [Jacob] (follower), fellow heirs of the same promise, message (epaggelia[G], hahavtachah[H]); 
 
8 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Avraham[H] (Father of a great people), when he was called, to go to the land which he was to receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he left, not knowing where he was going.
 
The prophet Nehemiah (Neh. 9:7-8) extols the faith of Avraham and shows that God’s promise of land as an inheritance is connected to that faith. In the context of the present text that inheritance is an everlasting land, the Ha Aretz of the new creation and the Olam Haba (world to come).
 
Avraham stepped out in faith, having already experienced the faithfulness of God, to go somewhere he wasn’t even sure existed, but trusted God for its existence. Therefore, our faith in God through Yeshua concerning the world to come is no different.
 
Avraham’s faithful obedience:
 
“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” -Genesis 12:1-4
 
Avraham, father of faith (Romans 4; Galatians 3)
 
9 In faith, trust, assurance, belief he sojourned, lived as a foreigner in the land of the promise, message, as if in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Yitzchak[H] [Isaac] and Yaakov[H] [Jacob], fellow heirs of the same promise, message;
 
Avraham is used as the ultimate example of true faith in the Jewish tradition (Sirach 44:19-21; 1 Macc. 2:52; Genesis Rabah 43; Mekhilta Mishpatim 18).
 
When Avraham arrived in Canaan God said, "I will give this land to your seed" (Gen. 12:7). Soon after God said, "I will give it to you and your seed forever" (Gen. 13:15).
 
God’s promise to give the ethnic-religious people of Israel the land of Israel is both for the present world and for the world to come. At the judgement, all the liberal Christian whining concerning the modern state of Israel will be silenced by this transcendent reality, when they discover that God invented Zionism (in the truest sense), and intends to perpetuate it in the world to come.
 
The text of Hebrews emphasises the future orientation of Avraham’s faith in God by highlighting his response to God’s call for Avraham to walk toward the unseen. Just as the Shabbat and the land of Israel are earlier used as metaphors for the world to come (Heb. 3 - 4), so too here Avraham’s faith journey is used as a metaphor for all believers, first the Jew and also the nations.
 
Avraham lived as a guest in the land that was to belong to his descendants, as did Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs to that same promise. This text affirms the passing on of the covenant made with Avraham to Isaac and Jacob and therefore, Israel. It also emphasises the fact that the fullness of the promise is yet to be realised. Therefore, like Avraham the first century Jewish followers of Messiah are living as guests in the land of Israel which will one day be theirs forever. Likewise, all believers are living as guests in a sin affected world that will one day be translated, a new creation, in which all believers will dwell forever in God through Messiah Yeshua.
 
Many are forcefully displaced, but Avraham, in faith chose to be displaced according to God’s promise of a better place.
 
“Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.” -Acts 7:5 (ESV)
 
How can God fulfil His promise to Avraham if Avraham is dead?
 
“And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” -Matthew 22:31-32
 
10 for he was looking, expecting, waiting (ekdechomai[G], chikah[H]) for the city (polis
[G], laiyr[H]) which has foundations (themelios[G], yesudatah[H]), whose architect (technitēs[G]) and builder (dēmiourgos[G]) is the God (ho Theos[G], haElohiym[H]). 11 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) even Sarah[H] (princess, noble woman, woman ruler) herself received strength, ability, miraculous power (dunamis[G], koach[H]) to conceive, make the foundation of a child (katabolē[G]) being seeded (sperma[G], lehazriya[H]) brought forth (tiktō[G], vateiled[H]) when she was past age, because she considered (hēgeomai[G]) Him faithful (pistos[G], lene’eman[H]) Who had promised, messaged (epaggellō[G], hamavtiyach[H]). 
 
10 for he was looking, expecting, waiting for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is the God.
 
The writer of the Book to the Hebrews inspired by the Ruach HaKodesh is thinking here as a Jew. He is acknowledging the p’shat (plain meaning) both as Avraham understood the promise to apply to the physical land and as the text explains that same promise. But he also sees a remez (hint) at a sod (mystery) that he believes Avraham also saw. That is, the promised transcendent city of God (the New Jerusalem [Heb. 12:22; 13:14; Rev. 21]) and the land it would inhabit in the Olam Haba (world to come).
 
Therefore, Avraham’s faith in God and His promise meant that Avraham saw the future physical fulfilment as well as the future and eternal metaphysical fulfilment. And, in order for this to be true Avraham must also have seen and received the King Messiah Yeshua through Whom the future fulfilment is made possible. Yeshua Himself confirms that this is so:
 
“Your father Avraham was overjoyed that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” So the Judean (leaders) said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Avraham?” Yeshua said to them, “B’emet, b’emet, amein, amein, it is certainly true, I say to you, before Avraham was born, I AM.” -John 8:56-58 (Author’s translation)
 
11 In faith, trust, assurance, belief even Sarah[H] herself received strength, ability, miraculous power to conceive, make the foundation of a child being seeded brought forth when she was past age, because she considered Him faithful Who had promised, messaged. 
 
Ref. Genesis 18:9-15; 21:1-8
 
Although Sarah’s first response to the promised child was one of doubt, the Genesis account implies repentance on her part, a turning toward God in faith following her initial doubt. When challenged concerning her disbelief Sarah responded with integrity and chose faith. In many ways she is as great an example of faith as Avraham, for no one can be reconciled to God except in repentance. Great faith is repentant faith.
 
Here the faith of Sarah is attested to as being of the nature of Avraham’s faith. In faith Sarah received the ability to conceive. “she considered Him (God) faithful Who had promised…” Avraham physically seeded the  egg in Sarah’s womb, but it was God Who made the pregnancy possible (though she had already gone through menopause) and Sarah accepted the possibility because she trusted God. If not for Sarah’s faith in God Avraham’s faith in God would not have seen it’s hope made certain.
 
“received strength” In Hebrew Scripture “strength” can be a euphemism for “seed/sperm” (ex. Prov. 31:3). Therefore, Sarah received the seed (sperm) of Avraham because she believed, trusted, had faith in God to do the miraculous. Notice then that it is the combined faith of Avraham and Sarah that God seeds the promised progeny (child). The birth of Isaac is evidence of the promise yet to be fulfilled.
 
It is foolish to argue as some do in favour of the present verse referring to Avraham’s faith (based on the vulgate and oriental translations – neither of which are original Scripture texts) because the authoritative text specifically says,“she considered Him (God) faithful Who had promised…”. It’s the worst kind of misogynistic foolishness to seek to rob Sarah of honour concerning her faith in HaShem. The promises of God are manifest in Adam and Eve, Avraham and Sarah, Joseph and Miriyam. Man is humanity, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” -Genesis 1:27 (NASB) Those who promote man over woman misrepresent God’s image and fail to properly understand the order and glory of creation.
 
12 Therefore even from one man (mei’echad[H]), and one who was as good as dead (nekroō[G], lamavet[H]), there were birthed (gennaō[G]) descendants who were as the stars of heavens (ouranos[G], hashamayim[H]) in multitudes (plēthos[G]), and as the sand (ammos[G]) by the seashore (al sefat hayam[H]), uncountable (anarithmētos[G]).
 
12 Therefore even from one man, and one who was as good as dead, there were birthed descendants who were as the stars of heavens in multitudes, and as the sand by the seashore, uncountable.
 
This verse implies that Avraham (as good as dead being a euphemism for low sperm count, impotence) was delivering sperm that could not seed an egg. But God miraculously strengthened Avraham’s sperm in order for Sarah to conceive.
 
From the union of an impotent man and a barren woman God birthed the father of a nation that still exists to this day (Rom. 4:19).
 
This example is used as evidence that God has, does and will do the impossible, just as the early Jewish believers had seen and heard with regard to the miracles of Yeshua.
 
13 All these died (apothnēskō[G], meitu[H]) in faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]), without receiving the promises (epaggelia[G], hahavtachot[H]), but having seen, known, understood (eidō[G]) from a distance, and were persuaded, had confidence, trusted (peithō[G]), and embraced, welcomed, greeted (aspazomai[G]) them, having professed (homologeō[G]) that they were strangers (xenos[G]) and exiles, resident foreigners (parepidēmos[G]) in the land (ho gē[G], ba’aretz[H]). 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a native land (patris[G], eretz[H]).
 
13 All these died in faith, trust, assurance, belief, without receiving the promises, but having seen, known, understood from a distance, and were persuaded, had confidence, trusted, and embraced, welcomed, greeted them, having professed that they were strangers and exiles, resident foreigners in the land. 
 
“And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my dwelling and working as a foreigner are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their dwelling and working as a foreigners.” -Genesis 47:9 (Author’s translation)
 
All those mentioned and those yet to be mentioned died being assured in their faith in God that the promises they had not yet seen fulfilled would be fulfilled. This and the fact that it is appointed to all human beings to die once and then the judgement (Heb. 9:27), means that Enoch will one day die, as will Elijah (Rev. 11:7-14).
 
Therefore, they died believing in the resurrection and the world to come (Olam Haba). They understood, that having received God’s promised salvation from sin and everlasting death through the King Messiah Yeshua Who was yet to be born into time and space, that they would live eternally in God through Messiah in a world devoid of sin.
 
Therefore, being in a sin affected world they were by nature of their relationship in God no longer sons and daughters of sin affected creation but had become sons and daughters of the Creator whose new creation is promised to all who believe.
 
They were strangers on this land, this earth because they had turned away from the nature of this place and had been translated through Messiah, thus changing their nature.
 
In Messiah we have already passed from death into life (John 5:24). We are foreigners on this land, this earth. We are inheritors of the world everlasting.
 
14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a native land.
 
This is in reference to their belief in the fulfilment of the giving of the promised land of Israel to the Jewish people and in its metaphysical fulfilment in the Olam Haba.
 
Remember, that when Avraham arrived in Canaan God said, "I will give this land to your seed" (Gen. 12:7). Soon after God said, "I will give it to you and your seed forever" (Gen. 13:15).
 
God’s promise to give the ethnic-religious people of Israel the land of Israel is both for the present world and for the world to come.
 
15 And certainly if they had been remembering (mnēmoneuō[G]) the land (ha’aretz[H]) which they left, they would have had a season, opportunity, an affinity (kairos[G]) for returning (anakamptō[G], lashuv[H]). 16 But now (nuni[G]), they desire a better (tovah[H]) land, that is, a heavenly one (epouranios[G], vishmeiy[H]). Therefore the God (ho Theos[G], ha-Elohiym[H]) is not ashamed to be called their God (Theos[G], Eloheiyhem[H]); for He has prepared a city (polis[G], iyr shamah[H]) for them.
 
15 And certainly if they had been remembering the land which they left, they would have had a season, opportunity, an affinity for returning. 
 
If they had kept thinking on and focusing their attention on where they had come from (out of lands of idolatry, slavery, paganism), they might have returned to that place and failed to receive the promise.
 
In this is a lesson for all believers. We are not to pine away for the past life of sin or focus on those things that we have left behind, rather we are to maintain our commitment to God in Messiah and keep our eyes on Him in Whom we will receive our everlasting inheritance.
 
16 But now, they desire a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore the God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
 
In Messiah God the Father (Creator) has adopted children of God from among the children of creation.
 
Land and heavens are seen as convergent concepts here. This indicates a future convergence of heaven and earth, a new heavens and a new earth which are recreated when the sin affected creation is consumed by the purifying fire of God and made new having been ignited by that same fire. The fire of God will purge all evil and purify the redeemed (Rev. 8:8; 9:18; 14:10, 18; 16:8; 17:16; 18:8; 19:20; 20:9-15; 21).
 
The promised land and city that await the faithful in the heavenlies are promised to descend (Rev. 21:2). Throughout, the writer makes “city” and “land” or “country” interchangeable terms in order to convey a holistic Hebraic understanding of convergent things. These things are distinct and one (echad).
 
“He has prepared a city for them” Note “has” before they existed “prepared a city for them”. The New Jerusalem, like the world to come, was prepared in Messiah Yeshua before the foundation of the world. God’s mercy precedes His judgement and is the result of it.
 
17 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Avraham[H] (Father of a great people), when he was examined, proved (peirazō[G]), brought up (prospherō[G]) Yitzchak[H] [Isaac] (he laughs), and the one who had received the promises (epaggelia[G], hahavtachot[H]) was offering up (prospherō[G]) his only son (monogenēs[G]); 18 it was he to whom it was said, “Through Yitzchak[H] (Isaac) your seed (sperma[G], zara[H]) shall be called.” [Gen. 21:12] 
 
17 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Avraham[H], when he was examined, proved, brought up Yitzchak[H] [Isaac], and the one who had received the promises was offering up his only son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “Through Yitzchak[H] your seed shall be called.” [Gen. 21:12]
 
First, God does not test in order to discover, He is all knowing. Rather He proves, examines, in order that we might discover who we are in Him.
 
Please consider reading my commentary on Genesis 22 concerning Ha-Akeidah (the Binding) to gain a greater understanding of the present text.
 
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary---15081497151214931513-1497150615111489/november-11th-2016
 
The actions of Avraham regarding the offering up of his son Isaac are the ultimate prefigure of God’s offering up of His only begotten Son Yeshua. We note that in both cases the sons are willing participants in the offering, both being adult men at the time of their calling to sacrifice, and both allowing themselves to be bound and offered.
 
Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer draws a connection between the Akeidah and resurrection which is also found in the High Holy Days liturgy of rabbinical Judaism.
 
19 He considered that the God (ho Theos[G], ha-Elohiym[H]) is able to raise people even from the dead (ho nekros[G], hamavet[H]), from which he also received him back as a type, figure, parable (parabolē[G], lemofeit[H], alt. mashal[H]). 20 In faith, trust, assurance, belief (pistis[G], ba-emunah[H]) Yitzchak[H] [Isaac] (he laughs) blessed Yaakov[H] [Jacob] (follower) and Esav[H] [Esau] (hairy, rough), even regarding things to come.
 
19 He considered that the God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type, figure, parable. 
 
Both Avraham and Isaac believed that God could raise the dead. This is clear, based on the fact that both Avraham and Isaac were aware of God’s promise to Avraham’s descendants and His assurance that those descendants would come through Isaac, who had been miraculously conceived.
 
God had shown through physical blessing the reality of His miraculous power to fulfil His promises. Therefore, an adult Isaac (37 years old, Sarah being 90 at his birth and on hearing the news that Avraham was taking Isaac to sacrifice him [re. rabbinic trad.] she died soon after aged 127), willingly allowed Avraham to bind him and offer him because Isaac believed God could raise the dead. And, Avraham bound and offered Isaac, his only true heir, because he believed that God could raise the dead.
 
"when he saw the sword over his neck, his breath fled from him, and came to the place of the soul, ‘as if he was at the point of giving up the ghost’.'' - Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, c. 31.
 
This entire historical account being a prophetic prefigure of what was to come in Yeshua the King Messiah. Therefore, as the text says, “from which he (Avraham) received him (Isaac) back as a parable (teaching story)”. This is a parable that is also an historical event.
 
Avraham received Isaac back because a Ram of God took Isaac’s place, and thus Jacob (Israel) who was at the time still in Isaac’s loins, was also delivered from death by the Ram of God that took his place. In the same way Yeshua took the place of all who would receive Him, He being both the Ram and the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:19-20; Rev. 13:8).
 
20 In faith, trust, assurance, belief Yitzchak[H] blessed Yaakov[H] and Esav[H], even regarding things to come.
 
Ref. Gen 27:1-40
 
Isaac continued to have faith in God for the promises yet to be fulfilled even in his old age with his vision waning. He blessed his sons though he could not see who he was blessing, and trusted God to bless according to His will rather than according to the will of Isaac’s flesh. As a result Jacob received the blessing and God conferred that blessing onto the 12 sons of Jacob the people of Israel through whom the King Messiah Yeshua was born into time and space in order to redeem human beings from the just punishment of sin, continually first for the Jews and also continually for the nations.
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown

​Introduction:
 
The second half of chapter 10 uses the former establishment of eternal atonement and the eternal security of those who receive Yeshua as a foundation for confidence in relationship to God.
 
Yeshua has not only made all believers, regardless of tribe or ethnicity, priests (1 Peter 2:9), He has also given every believer access to the Holiest place (the heavenly holy of holies) in the eternal present, not locationally in the same sense that Yeshua is seated at the right hand of God, but spiritually, in the sense that God dwells in and with us through Yeshua and by His Spirit. To understand this locationally is error, it leads to many heretical teachings, whereas to understand it transcendently (trans-locationally) is righteousness, a faith that accepts the future descent of the heavenly glory and the manifest dwelling of God on the new earth. We do not bring heaven down, God does. We do not affect the second coming, God does. To say otherwise if abhorrent blasphemy, idolatry of the worst kind.
 
Because we are secure in God through Messiah we are to hold on to and proliferate the profession of our faith, and intentionally look for ways that we can inspire and spur one another on to good works. We are not to cease meeting together in the flesh, but are instead admonished to continue to encourage one another in our faith as the day of judgement approaches. We are to turn from willful sin relying on Messiah’s strength in us because there is no further sacrifice, His sacrifice is it. We are admonished to remember our free obligation to be faithful to Yeshua and not become guilty of perpetual lawlessness, given that the rejection of the perfect Messiah and His covenant is far worse than the failure to keep the Torah of Moses.
 
The writer then reminds his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters in Messiah of the former days (prior to 60 C.E.) when they first came to faith in Yeshua and were persecuted alongside others who professed faith in the King Messiah. The early Jewish believers are encouraged to continue to endure with joy (transcendent), just as they did in the beginning, and to disregard earthly possessions and temporary accomplishments, instead keeping their eyes on the eternal possession, their inheritance, that which Yeshua has purchased for them. Their confidence in Messiah comes with a great reward.
 
Finally, the writer quotes Isaiah 26:20 and Hab. 2:3 as both a warning and an encouragement. The latter clause concerning “drawing back” (turning away from God) is redeemed by the words, “But we do not belong to those who shrink back to destruction, but are of those who have faith and are saved.”
 
Previous verses (Heb. 10:16-18):
 
16 “This is the covenant which I will make with them After those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws upon their hearts, And write them on their mind,” He then says, 17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will no longer remember.” 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, an offering for sin is no longer required.
 
BOOK TO THE HEBREWS Chapter 10:19-39 (Author’s translation)
 
19 Therefore, fellow Jewish brothers and sisters, since we have free, plain, confidence, boldness, security to enter into the holiest place by the blood of the Messiah Yeshua 20 by a new, recently slaughtered, freshly killed and living way which He inaugurated, renewed, consecrated, dedicated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh, body, 21 also a great high priest over, on, in, among the house of God, 22 let’s approach with/in a true, whole, well-constructed heart, inner person, centre of being in full assurance of faith, trust, belief that is innocent having our hearts, inner persons, centre of our being sprinkled, washed, purified from a wicked, delusional, spiritually evil conscience, consciousness, moral perception and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let’s hold firmly, keep, possess the profession [projected testimony], in the knowledge of our faith, hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let’s consider how to provoke, incite, irritate, rouse one another, brothers and sisters in all-encompassing love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning, forsaking assembling ourselves together as is the habit, manner, way, moral practice, modus operandi, custom, perpetual intention of some people, but comforting, encouraging, exhorting, desiring one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. 26 For if we continue to sin, wilfully, in malice after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains no further blood sacrifice upon sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation, a constant phobia of judgment and “the  fiery zealous indignation which will consume the adversaries/oppressors” [Num. 16:35 LXX “kai puros zelos”]. 28 Anyone who has despised, rejected, violated the Torah[H] of Moshe[H] died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severe a punishment do you think that one will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded, makes as unclean, unholy, common the blood of the covenant by which that one was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace, kindness, charity, practical love? 30 For we see, perceive, understand, know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” [Deut. 32:35] And again, “The Lord (YHVH) will judge His people.” [Deut. 32:36; Psalms 135:14] 31 It is a terrifying, fearful thing [a constant phobia] to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 But remember the former, first days, when, after being enlightened, you endured, your eyes have seen a great fight, struggle, contest of sufferings, tortures, 33 partly by your being made a public spectacle through insults and distress, and partly by becoming companions, fellow participants with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to me in my bonds [alt. to the prisoners] and accepted joyfully the seizure, spoiling, extorting of your possessions, knowing, having learned in your souls that you have for yourselves [alt. have in heaven] a better and lasting substance. 35 Therefore, do not throw away your free, plain, bold, confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of patient endurance, so that when you have done the will, desire of God, you may receive what was promised. 37 “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. [Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3 LXX] [Hebrew text Habakkuk 2:3: “For yet a vision to an appointed time and it shall speak, blow, to the end/goal and it will not lie though it waits, wait for it, coming it has come, it will not hesitate.”] 38 But My righteous one will live by faith; [Hab. 2:4] And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” [LXX and a summation of Hab. 2:5-20]  [Hebrew text of Habakkuk 2:4: “Behold, now, pay attention, he is lifted up (has drawn back through pride) and is not upright in his soul, behold, and the just/righteous, by his faith shall he live.”] 39 But we are not among those who draw back [through pride per Heb. Hab. 2:4] to destruction, damnation, but of those who have faith, trust, belief for obtaining the salvation, preservation of our souls.
 
HEBREWS 10:19-39 (line upon line)
 
19 Therefore, fellow Jewish brothers and sisters (adelphos[G], echay/achiym[H]), since we have free, plain, confidence, boldness, security (parrhesia[G], bihyot[H]) to enter into the holiest place (ho hagion[G], haKodesh[H]) by the blood (aima[G], bedam[H]) of the Messiah Yeshua[H] (Ho Christos[G], Ha-Mashiach[H], Iesous[G], YHVH [Mercy] Saves) 20 by a new, recently slaughtered, freshly killed (prosphatos[G], chadash[H]) and living (zao[G], chay[H]) way (hodos[G], derekh[H]) which He inaugurated, renewed, consecrated, dedicated (egkainizo[G], chideish[H]) for us through the veil (ho katapetasma[G], baparochet[H]), that is, through His (hautou[G]) flesh, body (sarx[G], vesaro[H]), 
 
19 Therefore, fellow Jewish brothers and sisters, since we have free, plain, confidence, boldness, security to enter into the holiest place by the blood of the Messiah Yeshua[H]
 
“Therefore, fellow Jewish brothers and sisters,” With few exceptions, when a Jewish New Covenant writer uses the Greek “adelphos” (brother, or the pl. brothers, by implication brothers and sisters), equivalent to the Hebrew “echay” or “achiym”, the writer intends it to be understood to refer to his ethnic Jewish brothers and sisters. While the teaching (spiritual principles) pursuant to the familial noun can be received and applied by all believers, this is nonetheless a secondary application.
 
“since we have free, confidence, security to enter into the holiest place by the blood of the Messiah Yeshua” Our confidence, security, freedom as believers is in Messiah through His eternal blood atonement. Therefore, we have been given continuing access to enter into the holiest place of intimacy with God. The holy of holies of the earthly hamishkan (Tent of meeting) and hamikdash (temple) are a sign that point to the holiest place in the heavens where Messiah is now seated in the right hand of the Father, while we remain on earth. However, Messiah in us as the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son, has brought the yet future manifestation of the holiest place (re. residing in the new Jerusalem that descends Rev. 21:22-23) to us according to His transcendent nature as resurrected King. He is both locationally seated in the right hand of God and trans-locationally present in us. The resurrected Messiah is not bound by matter, time, space or location.
 
We do not ascend to the heavens in order to access the holiest place, to the contrary, the message of Scripture is that God’s manifest presence and person descend to dwell with and in us. Those who seek to ascend have failed to understand the access that believers have been given in Messiah to a holiest place that is unbound by the locational limitations set by the human mind as it perceives this sin affected temporal world. Neither matter, nor time, nor space, nor any other created thing can impede the access of the believer to the holiest place through the blood of Messiah.
 
This is why Yeshua said, “But the hour comes and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeks such to worship Him.” -Yochanan (John) 4:23
 
Therefore, locational worship, while significant as a sign pointing to the holiest place of intimacy with God, is nonetheless preceded and succeeded, or proceeded from, in the trans-locational worship found in God through Messiah Yeshua.
 
Put simply, we don’t need to ascend to the “holiest place” because our great High Priest Yeshua Who resides there also resides in us by the Holy Spirit (Spirit of the Father and the Son).
 
It is foolish then, to claim (as some do) that we can ascend into the heavenly holy of holies through certain practices, prayers, invocations and processes. This is the modus operandi of witchcraft. To the contrary, in Messiah the trans-locational manifest presence of God is eternally present with us. We await the fullness of that manifestation at the return of the King Messiah and following the judgement (haDin-the Day of Judgement), when the new Jerusalem will descend from the heavens and God will dwell with humanity, the city being devoid of a temple because God Himself and the Lamb Yeshua will be its temple and its perpetual light (Rev. 21:22-23).
 
Those who practice locational faith (a companion to emotional faith) will find to their detriment that there are locations that offer no inspiration. Whereas those who practice transcendent faith in Messiah Yeshua will find that their faith is trans-locational.
 
***FOR ADDITIONAL STUDY*** or skip to next verse…
 
For further study the following commentary on Hebrews 9:27 refutes the false teaching that believers can travel trans-dimensionally into the heavens (an occult teaching akin to astral travel) that misunderstands the words of Rav Shaul (Paul) recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:1-5:
 
“And just as it is appointed for people to die once, and after this, the judgment,” -Hebrews 9:27 
 
This verse puts death to the false claims of those who say they have died and literally been to heaven and have come back to shared their experiences. While according to Scripture (2 Cor. 12:2-4) one can claim to have experienced a vision of paradise (Gan Eden, Bosom of Abraham ref. Luke 16:19-31) as convergent with the third heaven (not heaven but a part of Sheol), one cannot legitimately claim to have actually, physically or metaphysically entered the heaven of heavens (John 3:13; Heb. 9:27; Luke 23:43)[note that Elijah was taken into “hashamayim” the heavens pl. and not into the heaven of heavens in particular (2 Kings 2). Also in the case of Enoch who “was not”, heaven is not mentioned (Gen 5:24).
 
The Scripture does not say “it is appointed to human beings to die and spend time in heaven and then come back for a while and die again etc…” But, “It is appointed to human beings to die once and then the judgement”, not “and then some other things and then the judgement”, but “and then the judgement” which by necessity precedes what Christians mistakenly call “heaven”, but is actually the Olam haba (world to come). Only following the judgement do we dwell forever in the Olam Haba (World to come), prior to that the redeemed await the judgement in Paradise (Bosom of Abraham, Gan Eden). Those Scriptures used to support the counterfeit experiences of those who have “passed” and been revived, when examined closely, affirm the present text rather than being divergent in their meaning.
 
This verse also puts to death the false idea of the ghosts of human souls, which in reality are demonic spirits (false elohim [gods]) masquerading as departed human souls. This is extremely important in light of the many foolish misinterpretations of Hebrews 12:1 and 1 Samuel 28:3-21.
 
According to this verse there are two steps between the present temporal life and the Olam Haba (world to come) [mis referred to by Christians as “heaven”]:
 
1. The death of the human being as a result of the sin affected world
2. Judgement.
 
There are no intermediary stages mentioned, nor does the wealth of Scripture support such stages. Those who teach otherwise teach apostasy.
 
An explanation of the verses commonly used in an attempt to circumvent the truth of Hebrews 9:27.
 
My commentary on 1 Samuel 28:3-21
https://www.bethmelekh.com/yaakovs-commentary---15081497151214931513-1497150615111489/1-samuel-283-21-saul-and-the-witch-of-eyn-dor
 
Hebrews 12:1
The allusion to the cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12 is referring back to the list of those witnesses to God’s faithfulness who are listed in Hebrews 11, commonly known as the Faith Chapter. These witnesses, as can be seen from Hebrews 11, are the now deceased patriarchs and heroes of the Jewish faith. The writer of Hebrews, a Jew and a Kohen (Priest), knows that the witnesses he is referring to are deceased and that many of them are buried throughout the land of Israel, and that they are therefore uncontactable according to the teaching of Scripture regarding the dead (Hebrews 9:27).
 
In the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16) Yeshua explains that while the dead are conscious, they are not able either to traverse the chasm between Gehinnom (torment) and Gan Eden (Paradise) nor (re: Lazarus etc. once they are finally deceased [Hebrews 9:27]) are they able to traverse the distance between Sheol and the present world. In my article on Saul, Samuel and the Witch of Eyndor, I explain why the events of 1 Samuel 28:3-21 are not describing the dead spirit of Samuel called up but rather an evil spirit that fools both the witch and Saul, and is subsequently used by God to condemn Saul (ref. see link above).
 
The writer of the book of Hebrews is using the deceased Jewish witnesses of Hebrews 11 as a figurative example. When he says:
 
“Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses lying around us, let us also get rid of every weight and entangling sin. Let us run with endurance the race set before us, focusing on Yeshua, the author and perfecter of faith.” –Hebrews 12:1-2a
 
He is making a drash (inquiry/comparative teaching) regarding how we should act in light of the figurative (not literal) cloud of witnesses that are buried throughout the land of Israel. We must remember that the writer is probably writing from the perspective of a priest living in the Land of Israel prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E (A.D). He then qualifies this teaching by instructing us, not to focus on the cloud of witnesses, but on Yeshua, the author and perfecter of our faith (The faith that our Jewish forebears shared in the coming Messiah Yeshua).
 
We cannot engage with this cloud of witnesses because they are deceased and according to Scripture (Hebrews 9:27) they are uncontactable. Those who do seek to speak to the dead are in fact speaking with demonic forces rather than the spirits of dead people (1 Timothy 4:1; 1 Corinthians 10:20-21; 2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
 
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” –Deuteronomy 18:10-12
Therefore, not only are we unable to engage with the dead witnesses of Hebrews 11-12, we are also commanded by God not to attempt to speak with the dead.
 
1 Peter 3:14-21
“If you suffer for righteousness' sake, be glad: and don’t be afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify (Kiddush) HaShem (Merciful) Elohiym (Judge) in your core being (heart): and be ready always to give an answer to every human being that asks you the reason for the hope that is in you with humility and reverent awe: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conduct in Messiah. For it’s better if God’s will is that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil. For Messiah also at one time suffered for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Ruach (Spirit). By Whom (The Spirit) He also went and made proclamation to the ruachiym (spirits) in prison (phulake: foo-lak-ay). Who were formerly disobedient, when at one time the longsuffering God waited in the days of Noach (Comfort), while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls (nefesh) were saved by water (mikveh: gathering of water). This figurative likeness being a representation of the immersion (baptism) that now also saves us (not the washing of the flesh but the earnest seeking of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) Messiah.”
 –1 Peter  3:17-21
 
In the context of Peter’s letter, the community of believers is being encouraged to share their faith with anyone who asks, and not to shy away from suffering if that is what God’s will entails. Peter then offers Yeshua as an example of One Who suffered and shared His message in the Spirit of God. It is explained that Yeshua’s suffering puts to death the sinful practices of the flesh and resurrects each believer in the life giving Spirit of God. It is by this same Spirit that the resurrected Messiah (not in Sheol) transcends time and space, and thus traverses time and space by the Spirit, to proclaim His saving work to those spirits of human beings who were still living in the flesh at the time of Noah prior to the flood. The text explains that during the time of Noah only eight imprisoned spirits heard Yeshua’s message received it and were delivered through the figurative tevilah immersion (baptism) of the flood, which the author shows to be a prefigure of the same tevilah immersion (baptism) that believers in Messiah have received unto salvation.
 
From the p’shat (plain) meaning of the text and the subsequent, remez (hint), drash (comparative) and sod (mystery), we see that it does not place Yeshua in Sheol in relation to His proclamation but shows that it is by the Spirit of God following His resurrection that He spoke to the imprisoned spirits of humanity past. This text is not teaching anything even remotely to do with communicating with imprisoned dead people or angelic spirits. To the contrary, it simply teaches that God is just and that all humanity from Adam to the end of days has and will have an opportunity to either reject or receive the message of Messiah. This text shows how in the Spirit (of God), the resurrected Messiah transcends time and space and manifests the supernatural reality that He was both literally and figuratively slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).
 
2 Corinthians 12:1-5
Boasting is necessary, though it is not beneficial; but I will go on to visions and revelations [a]of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. -2 Corinthians 12:1-4 NASB
 
V.1 Boasting is necessary, though it is not beneficial; but I will go on to visions and revelations [a]of the Lord.
 
What Rav Shaul (Paul) is about to speak of is a “vision”, a “revelation” and not a physical or metaphysical event. Therefore, based on the very nature of either a vision or a revelation, the events described are already presumed unreal, not actual, neither physical nor metaphysical, but instead, something seen in the imagination, mind’s eye or spirit.
 
V2. I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. 
 
Rav Shaul is possibly speaking of himself in the guise of apologetic self-promoting rhetoric like that employed elsewhere in his works. Alternatively he is relaying the vision experience of a trusted fellow believer, perhaps one of his brothers among the Jewish Church fathers.
 
He states clearly “whether in the body I don’t know, or out of the body I don’t know, God knows…” He is describing the experience of a vision. Those who experience visions have all kinds of feelings and sensory adventures but are not literally in the places they are visioning. Rav Shaul is not espousing “out of body experience”, which is an occult practice connected with Gnosticism, transcendental meditation and other false religious beliefs. To the contrary, Biblical Judaism abhors this idea viewing it as a form of witchcraft. Instead, Rav Shaul is alluding to the difference between experiencing a vision as if it were inside us verses experiencing a vision as if we are looking outwardly at it (both occurring within the mind’s eye or consciousness but neither occurring outside the body). In neither case does the spirit leave the body. Biblical Judaism teaches that the human soul (Body, mind, spirit etc.) is a unity unseparated until death when the spirit leaves and goes to Sheol.
 
The Greek harpaso is poorly translated here by the NASB. In the context of this vision it means “caught away” and not caught up.
 
Rav Shaul is right to give the interpretation to God, saying “God Knows”. Yes, God does know, in fact, so as to avoid confusion God has authored His word to say, “No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.” (John 3:13), and “it is appointed for people to die once, and after this, the judgment…” (Heb. 9:27).
 
V.3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows..”
 
He repeats, “whether in the body I don’t know, or out of the body I don’t know, God knows…” because he is bewildered by the vision experience he is referring to and rightly understands that it was not a tangible, literal experience. Neither a physical or metaphysical reality. In Biblical Hebrew thought and interpretation something repeated is firmly established. Therefore, Rav Shaul has firmly established that he doesn’t know where the “man” was. As explained, the Scripture tells us where he was not.
 
V.4 was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.
 
The Greek harpaso is again poorly translated here by the NASB. In the context of this vision it means “caught away” and not caught up. We know this because the Jewish writer refers to paradise (Gan Eden, the Bosom of Abraham), which is a part of Sheol, meaning that the qualification of heaven, written as “third heaven” refers to the convergent presence of the Messiah in both the heavens and paradise simultaneously, following His resurrection. Following His resurrection the King Messiah being unbound by time, space, situational and locational being etc. In short, regardless of the issue of traversing the heavens as believers, this text is referring to a convergent form of paradise (in Sheol) and not to the heaven of heavens.
 
Therefore, the text of 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 does not teach that a person (perhaps Paul) ascended to the heaven of heavens, something that would contradict the words of Yeshua and the teaching of Hebrews 9:27.
 
Regarding the Resurrections of Lazarus, the Son of the widow of Nain etc.
 
All (those temporally resurrected) had not yet passed into Sheol but were in transition sleep. Meaning unconscious but the spirit had not left the body according to ancient Jewish tradition (3 to 4 day period of unconscious sleep, the first stage of death/passing). This means that the person cannot communicate with the living, nor are they yet in Sheol (When Yeshua says "Today you will be with me in paradise" to the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43) I believe the word "today" is used in an eternally present sense. Alternatively, some pass over more quickly than others, although with regard to time and space how could we even begin to determine the measure by which we could access such a process?) 
 
In all these cases of temporal resurrections (they are exceptions, and include Elijah raising the woman's son) the resurrected are resurrected within four days of death, and their spirits have not entered death finally with regard to entering Sheol. 
 
"Appointed unto man once to die" regards the spirit's entry into Sheol and not the transition period of soul sleep (a euphemism used by Yeshua [John 11:11]). No one in transition sleep (first stage of separation) can communicate to the living. Therefore, the point I made regarding ghosts being demons remains the same, ghosts are not wandering human spirits.
 
HEBREWS 10 COMMENTARY CONTINUES HERE:
 
20 by a new, recently slaughtered, freshly killed and living way which He inaugurated, renewed, consecrated, dedicated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh, body, 
 
“recently slaughtered” For the first century Jewish recipients of this scroll the death and resurrection of Yeshua had occurred less than 30 years prior to the writing of this work. Yeshua’s recent sacrifice is being called to mind in order to inspire those who have already become weary in the faith. The writer reminds his believing Jewish brothers and sisters that they have been witness to the sacrificial death of Yeshua that has inaugurated a new way of living strengthened by the Spirit of God, purchased by the body of Messiah.
 
“through the veil, that is, through His flesh, body” The torn body of Messiah Yeshua is here compared to the torn parochet veil which guarded access to the holy of holies of the temple (tent of meeting). Just as the physical veil was torn allowing the priests to see past it into the holy of holies and by extension giving them access to that place, so the body of Messiah was torn in order to give access to the holiest place of intimacy with God to the priesthood of believers over whom He is the Great High Priest.
 
21 also (kai[G]) a great high (megas[G]) priest (hiereus[G], Kohen Gadol[H]) over, on, in, among (epi[G], al[H]) the house (ho oikos[G], habeiyt[H]) of God (Theos[G], Elohiym[H]), 22 let’s approach (proserchomai[G]) with/in a true, whole, well-constructed (alethinos[G], shaleim[H]) heart, inner person, centre of being (kardia[G], beleivav[H]) in full assurance (plerophoris[G]) of faith, trust, belief that is innocent (pistis[G], uve’emunah temiymah[H]) having our hearts, inner persons, centre of our being (kardia[G], levaveinu[H]) sprinkled, washed, purified (rhantizo[G], urechutzeiy[H]) from a wicked, delusional, spiritually evil (poneros[G], metohariym behazayat levaveinu meiruach ra’ah[H]) conscience, consciousness, moral perception (suneidesis[G]) and our bodies (soma[G], habasar[H]) washed (louo[G]) with pure (katharos[G]) water (hudor[G], bemayim tehoriym[H]). 
 
21 also a great high priest over, on, in, among the house of God, 22 let’s approach with/in a true, whole, well-constructed heart, inner person, centre of being in full assurance of faith, trust, belief that is innocent having our hearts, inner persons, centre of our being sprinkled, washed, purified from a wicked, delusional, spiritually evil conscience, consciousness, moral perception and our bodies washed with pure water.
 
“among the house of God” Both ha-beiyt (the house) and har-beiyt (mountain house) are euphemistic Hebrew names for the Temple in Jerusalem. The idea is being used here to point to the house of God that is built of living stones (1 Peter 2:5).
 
“let’s approach with/in a true, whole, well-constructed heart, inner person” As the phrasing explains, we approach in a true, transformed, well-constructed centre of being. This is a spiritual approach which is symbolised by the physical signs of the temple and its processes. We are not physically ascending into the holiest place in the heavens.
 
“in full assurance of faith” We need not concern ourselves with personal doubts and failures because it is the faith imparted by God that indwells us. In a very real sense we have faith because He first gave us faith. Therefore, having received Him, our faith is reliant on Him and is not subject to our doubts, without which faith cannot exist.
 
“purified from a wicked, delusional, spiritually evil conscience” Note that the conscience of a fallen human being is by nature “poneros” (wicked), in and of itself unable to discern properly between right and wrong because its inclination is to call right that which is wrong.
 
“our bodies washed with pure water.” With regard to ritual washing, tevilah bamikveh (immersion in the waters): mayim chayim (living waters) from a fresh living source are used (underground spring, mountain water, pool etc.). However, with regard to the purification through which the believer enters the holiest place in Yeshua, the living waters of the sin affected creation cannot cleanse the inner person. This is why the writer uses the Greek “katharos hudor” (pure water) and why the Hebrew translation reads “bemayim tehoriym” (waters that purify). The water spoken of here is not the physical waters of immersion but the transcendent water of the Holy Spirit, the same prophetic outpouring of water Israel eagerly anticipated each Sukkot in the kinetic prayer of the water libation right (Isaiah 12:3-5).
 
Note:
 
In approximately 32 C.E. (A.D.) Israel celebrated Sukkot the feast of Shelters. For seven days they watched the High Priest pour out water upon the altar inside the Temple grounds. They prayed for rain and that God will send the promised Messiah to deliver them from Roman oppression. On the final day of the feast called Hoshanah Rabbah – ‘The Great Salvation’, a Rabbi stands up among them and yells out at the top of His voice…
 
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me,
as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
 –Yochanan (John) 7:37
 
The water that had just been poured on the altar had been taken from the pool of Shiloach (Sent), where Yeshua had healed a blind man only days before. (John 5)
 
The priests of Israel were required to wash themselves completely before entering the temple (Exodus 30:19-21; Leviticus 8:6; Mishnah Yoma c. 3. sect. 3.). This too was a sign pointing to the need for those who become priests in Messiah to be purified with a better purification, one that is of everlasting effect.
 
“Then will I sprinkle pure water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you.” -Ezekiel 36:25
 
23 Let’s hold firmly, keep, possess (katecho[G], nachaziykah[H]) the profession [projected testimony], in the knowledge (homologia[G], behoda’at[H]) of our faith, hope (elpis[G], Hatikvah[H]) without wavering (aklines[G]), for He who promised (epaggello[G]) is faithful (pistos[G], ne’eman hamavtiyach[H]); 24 and let’s consider (katanoeo[G]) how to provoke, incite, irritate, rouse (paroxsusmos[G], leoreir[H]) one another, brothers and sisters (allelon[G], iysh al-achiyn[H]) in all-encompassing love (agape[G], ahavah[H]) and good deeds (kalos ergon[G], ulma’asiym toviym[H]), 25 not abandoning, forsaking (egkataleipo[G], al-na’azov[H]) assembling ourselves together (episunagoge heautou[G], et-keneisyateinu[H]) as is the habit, manner, way, moral practice, modus operandi, custom, perpetual intention (ethos[G], kederekh[H]) of some people, but comforting, encouraging, exhorting, desiring (parakaleo[G]) one another; and all the more as you see (blepo[G], birotechem[H]) the day (ho hemera[G], hayom[H]) drawing near (eggizo[G]).
 
23 Let’s hold firmly, keep, possess the profession [projected testimony], in the knowledge of our faith, hope, without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 
 
Both the first century Jewish believers and all subsequent believers are admonished to hold firmly to profession (continued pronouncement) of the Good News of Yeshua based on the faith we have due to His immutable faithfulness.
 
In practical terms believers are being warned not to allow their grip on the foundational doctrines of faith to be loosened through weariness, disillusionment, or by the secular and false religious worldviews that surround all human beings. We are to guard the projected testimony of the Gospel of Yeshua in us, individually and corporately.
 
As we have previously discussed the first century Jewish believers living in approximately 60 C.E. were under tremendous pressure from their families and the wider body of ethnic-religious Jews, many of whom had come to despise the Jewish sect HaDerekh (the Way). Therefore, the writer of Hebrews is tasked with prodding them and waking them from the slumber of disillusionment, reminding them that the One Who called them is faithful.
 
24 and let’s consider how to provoke, incite, irritate, rouse one another, brothers and sisters in all-encompassing love and good deeds,
 
Notice the depth of meaning in the text of the original languages. Our provocation of one another toward good deeds is to be multifaceted. Notice that the word “encourage” is not employed yet, certainly not in the modern sense of the word. Rather at times inspiring good deeds in fellow believers will require us to incite, provoke, even irritate other believers in all-encompassing love, both through our good deeds and in order to prompt good deeds in them. This is not the trite “encouragement” of the secular world or of modern emotionalism born of a pervasive victim mentality, rather it is the raw provocation of a loving God. We are to provoke others through and unto good deeds in the same way the prophets of old did. If you choose to walk in this, as Messiah did, expect to upset people. This is not an instruction for the faint hearted. Thank God He is the strength of our hearts.
 
25 not abandoning, forsaking assembling ourselves together as is the habit, manner, way, moral practice, modus operandi, custom, perpetual intention of some people, but comforting, encouraging, exhorting, desiring one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
 
The Greek text literally reads “not neglecting to synagogue (assemble in a specified place) ourselves together.”
 
The great rabbi Hillel says:
 
“Do not separate yourself from the community.” -Avot 2:4
 
“assembling ourselves together” While it is true that meeting online via various media platforms and interactive computer software is in some way beneficial, it is not what is meant here. Not in context, not in principle. “assembling ourselves together” means in physical proximity, engaged in all aspects of godly relationship. Online meetings alone are not a sufficient example of obedience to this instruction. We may submit to governing bodies in this regard for a time, however, if the meeting together of believers were to become illegal as a general and ongoing point of secular law, the writer of the Scroll to the Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, affords us the mandate to refuse that law. Any secular law that contradicts the Law of God is by nature a law of rebellion and should be refused.
 
Re. covid-19 protocols. While the separation of infectious members of the community is mandated by Scripture (Torah) for a period of time, in order to protect the wider community, there is no Scriptural mandate for “locking down” or imprisoning the entire community in their separate households or otherwise, for any length of time.
 
In short, Scripture teaches a reasoned approach to combating infectious illness that does not shut down the necessary interactions of societal life. The current overreach of world governments in an attempt to control the covid-9 outbreak is in direct opposition to the instruction of Hebrews 10:25. A godly response to a health crisis like the one we are currently faced with is to act discerningly, holistically, intentionally but not through fear mongering and the suppression of Biblically moral human rights. We are admonished to meet together in person. And so at some point in the near future we will.
 
“The day” refers to Yom HaDin (the day of judgement) [Isaiah 2:12; Joel 1:15, 3:14; Zechariah 14:1; Thessalonians 5:4; 2 Peter 3:12; Rev 16:14].
 
“not abandoning, forsaking assembling ourselves together as is the habit, manner, way, moral practice, modus operandi, custom, perpetual intention of some people,” It has become fashionable among many believers today to criticise those leaders and members of our communities who speak rebuke to those who are failing to meet the godly standards set for the believing community. If a community leader dares to decry the actions of those who are disobeying God’s Word, that leader immediately receives criticism from self-righteous Christians, who, having been convicted by the word spoken, choose to respond by challenging the “negative” attitude of the speaker. And yet, here in this verse we have a father of the faith rebuking those who have ceased meeting with other believers, and who have made it their habit not to meet with other believers.
 
Jewish tradition states that among those that go down to Gehenna and perish, and have no part in the world to come, are those "who separate from the ways of the congregation (community of faith)" -Talmud Bavliy Rosh Hashanah, 17. 1.
 
Why? Because outside of the faith community, individuals lose sight of sound doctrine, being without fellow believers to correct their errors (something every human being needs), they descend into disbelief. The Proverb “Bad company corrupts good character” applies both corporately and individually. If I am outside of the community of faith I have already disobeyed the command of God to remain in the community. I myself have therefore become the bad company that corrupts my character.
 
I am weary of hearing believers say “I’m a Messiah follower but I don’t like the Church”, and “I’m a Christian but modern Churches are all off the rails, so I don’t go”. There are two errors in this thinking: first, ecclesia (body of believers, Church) is the gathering “assembling together” of believers, therefore, a person cannot go to Church, so saying “I don’t” or “I won’t go to Church” is redundant, we are Church; second, in order to remain a healthy member of the body of Messiah one must gather, assemble together with other believers.
 
If a hand chooses to leave the body it will no longer be governed by the brain through the nervous system and will fail to receive blood from the heart to maintain its muscles, sinews, and operation. In a short time it will become a rotting piece of dead and decaying flesh. Sadly, this is what becomes of “believers” who refuse to gather regularly with other believers. What’s more the body is now short of a hand. The believer that wilfully refuses to meet regularly with other believers robs both himself and the body of Messiah.
 
Additionally, the context of Hebrews 10:25 denotes a local, even specific kehilah (community). It is an admonishment to remain committed in an ongoing way to a specific community and is therefore also a rebuke against those who go from community to community to serve their own spiritual needs rather than committing to and serving a specific community. In this context failing to meet together with other believers on a regular basis is synonymous with failing to commit to a specific kehilah (congregation). “Living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) are not put in place so as to remove themselves whenever they feel like it and seek out another building. This is an act of sabotage. The removal of even one stone can weaken and eventually topple a building.
 
Refusing to meet with other believers not only robs the community, it also robs those unbelievers outside the community of faith of the opportunity to witness the Gospel through the love we have for one another:
 
“A new commandment I give to you all collectively and individually, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you all collectively and individually also love one another. By this all people will know, come to understand that you all collectively and individually are my disciples, if you have love one to another.” -Yeshua recorded in Yochanan (John) 13:34-35
 
Scripture for further study: 1 John 3:10-11, 14, 18; 4:7-8
 
Some may have genuinely experienced harm in the community of faith and have deep hurts, but the answer is not to shun the family of Messiah. If and uncle molests a child unbeknownst to the family, does that make the entire wider family guilty? Of course not. But healing and restoration is needed, something that cannot take place outside the family. The answer is in the following clause.
 
“but comforting, encouraging, exhorting, desiring one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
 
We are to comfort one another. In hurts, in conflict, in loss, in repentance, in holiness, love justice, reconciliation. And this we must do more and more, because with every breath the day of judgement draws nearer. We are admonished with love and awe to remember God’s holiness and work out our faith in fear and trembling. If we do so we will see the death of the false teachings of hyper-grace and hyper-law, and will be participants in a community of faith that goes from strength to strength in Messiah Yeshua.
 
26 For if we continue to sin, [sin perpetually] (hamartano[G], im-necheta[H]) wilfully, in malice (hekousios[G], vezadon[H]) after receiving (lambano[G]) the knowledge (ho epignosis[G], yediyat[H]) of the truth (ho aletheia[G], haemet[H]), there remains no further (ouketi[G], lo-yisaeir od[H]) blood sacrifice (thusia[G], zevach[H]) upon sins (hamartano[G], al-hachataiym[H]), 27 but a terrifying expectation, a constant phobia (tis phoberos echdoche[G]) of judgment (krisis[G], hadiyn[H]) and “the  fiery (puros[G], eish[H]) zealous indignation (zelos[G], kinah[H]) which will consume (esthio[G], tochul[H])” the adversaries/oppressors (hupenantios[G], et hatzorariym[H]) [Num. 16:35 LXX “kai puros zelos”]. 
 
26 For if we continue to sin, wilfully, in malice after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains no further blood sacrifice upon sins,
 
“For if we continue to sin wilfully* after receiving the knowledge of the truth” This refers to a lifestyle of intentional sin lived according to the evil inclination or fallen nature. It does not refer to individual sins that believers commit from time to time as they continue to undergo sanctification in this world. It should be understood as “For if we continue to intentionally live a lifestyle of sin…”
 
*The Torah distinguishes between wilful and unwitting sins (Leviticus 4:1-5:13; Numbers 15:22-31
 
“there remains no further blood sacrifice upon sins” In short, the sacrifice of Yeshua is the only means of redemption from sin and salvation from eternal punishment. There is “no further sacrifice” other than the sacrifice of Messiah. The text does not say “there is no sacrifice” but, “there is no further sacrifice”.
 
This text is not saying that those who receive Messiah and then turn their back on Him cannot be saved, rather it is saying that Messiah’s sacrifice is their only means of salvation. Nor does it teach that those who genuinely receive Yeshua can lose their salvation. Fools and heretics teach this verse as proof that a believer can lose salvation, and that a believer who continues to sin is doomed to damnation. We should ask, “Is there any believer who does not sin?” The answer is of course “No!” But we are being sanctified.
 
If it is true that a person can lose salvation then Messiah’s ability to save is weak and our receipt of it relies on our efforts to perpetuate it and not His. This is blasphemous idolatry, it is anti-Christ, anti-Biblical, anti-Gospel, anti-metanarrative of Scripture. Without fail and consistently Scripture teaches that there is always an opportunity for salvation up until death and judgement. What’s more, Yeshua teaches that those who genuinely receive Him have already passed from death into life everlasting (John 5:24; 1 John 3:14), and that our salvation is entirely reliant on Yeshua, our role in it being to receive Him, and His work in us being to sanctify us unto the judgement and the world to come.
 
“For through one sacrifice He (Yeshua) has made perfect forever (not temporally) those who are being sanctified (made holy within time and space)…” -Hebrews 10:14 Author’s translation and explanation
“Therefore there is now no condemnation to them who are in Messiah Yeshua, who walk not after the flesh (sinful nature), but after the Spirit (of God). For the Torah of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua has constructed me free from the Torah of sin and death (indictment).” -Romans 8:1-2 Author’s translation and explanation

27 but a terrifying expectation, a constant phobia of judgment and “the  fiery zealous indignation which will consume the adversaries/oppressors” [Num. 16:35 LXX “kai puros zelos”]. 
 
“The fiery zealous indignation” (kai puros zelos) The writer is quoting the Septuagint version of Numbers 16:35. The adversaries in the account of Numbers 16 are Korah and his rebellious retinue, who had questioned both Moses and the Lord regarding the appointment of Moses and Aaron as spiritual leaders of Israel.
 
The writer of Hebrews is warning the Jewish recipients of his work that rebellion against Yeshua, God’s ultimate anointed One (appointed leader over all Israel and the nations) will be met with a fiery wrath like (but not the same as) the punishment that consumed those who rebelled against God’s appointed leaders following the escape from Egypt. The escape from Egypt symbolic of escape from bondage to sin and therefore a poignant reminder concerning the redemptive work of Yeshua in God. Thus, aside from Yeshua’s sacrifice “there is no further sacrifice”. Those who rebel against Yeshua must repent before Yeshua in order to return to right relationship with God.
 
28 Anyone who despised, rejected, violated (atheteo[G], yafeir[H]) the Torah[H] (nomos[G]) of Moshe[H] (Moses, drawn out, resurrected) died (apothnesko[G], mot[H]) without mercy (oiktirmos[G], yamut beliy chemlah[H]) on the testimony of two or three witnesses (martus[G], eidiym[H]). 29 How much more severe (cherion[G]) a punishment (timoria[G], haonesh[H]) do you think that one will deserve who has trampled underfoot (katapateo[G], sheromeis beragelo[H]) the Son (Ho Uihos[G], et-Ben[H]) of God (Theos[G], Ha-Elohiym[H]), and has regarded, makes (hegeomai[G], veoseh[H]) as unclean, unholy, common (koinos[G]) the blood (ho aima[G], et-dam[H]) of the covenant (ho diatheke[G], ha-briyt[H]) by which that one was sanctified (hagiazo[G], mekudash[H]), and has insulted the Spirit (Pneuma[G], Ruach[H]) of grace, kindness, charity, practical love (charis[G], ha-chesed[H])?
 
28 Anyone who despised, rejected, violated the Torah[H] of Moshe[H] died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
 
Nomos[G] & Torah[H] here refer specifically to the five books of Moses.
 
“Rejected the Torah” This does not mean “refused it once or twice” but is in reference to wilful and ongoing law breaking. In short, an intentional and perpetual lifestyle of sin. Hence, “without mercy” because mercy is offered to all alongside forgiveness, but only the repentant receive it. This corresponds to the reference to “wilful sin” in verse 26.
 
“died without mercy” In the case of the rebellion of Korah this concerns a corporeal death. This is a physical sign pointing to the second death of those who reject the King Messiah Yeshua (Rev. 20:14).
 
It is interesting by way of prophetic symbolism, to note that given the meaning of Moses name (Moshe - drawn out/resurrected one), we could read, “Anyone who rejected the instruction of the drawn out/resurrected one, died on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” This too is a prophetic sign pointing to Yeshua.
 
“two or three witnesses” Devarim (Deuteronomy) 17:6, 19:15.
 
29 How much more severe a punishment do you think that one will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded, makes as unclean, unholy, common the blood of the covenant by which that one was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace, kindness, charity, practical love?
 
“How much more” is the second clause of a rabbinical form of argument called “kal v’chomer” (lit. easy and substantial). Some call this method “light and heavy”, and it is close in practice to fortiori, a Latin phrase which literally means "from the stronger (argument)", a technique employed in legal arguments.
 
We know that the Torah of Moses and its sacrificial system cannot atone for sin:
 
“For whosoever shall keep the whole Torah, and yet breaks it in one point, that one is guilty of breaking it all.” -Yaakov (James) 2:10
 
If then one who despised the Torah that could not atone eternally was put to death (corporeal), how much more will the one who despises the eternally effective sacrificial blood of Messiah Yeshua, suffer a death that is incorporeal, eternal. The blood of Yeshua atones eternally, and the refusal of it denotes eternal condemnation for the refuser.
 
“who has trampled underfoot the Son of God” This is the stronger descriptor (portion) that completes a kal v’chomer argument begun in Hebrews 6:4-6, where we read:
 
“4 For it is impotent, weak in the case of those who have once been enlightened, illuminated, seen the light [alt. have already lifted up their eyes to the light: alt. #2 have descended to immersion[A]], and have tasted, eaten of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers, partners of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted, eaten the good breathed word of God and the powers, miracles of the world to come, 6 If they also then fall away, to renew them again to repentance, returning, because they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to public shame.
 
Rejection of Messiah Yeshua’s sacrificial blood shed during His death on the cross is worse than crucifying Him again (metaphorically speaking) [Heb.6:4-6], because it denies even the effectiveness of the crucifixion.
 
“the blood of the covenant” refers specifically to the blood of the new (better) covenant in Messiah Yeshua’s blood (ref. Heb. 9:20, 13:20; Ex. 24:8;Matt. 26:28; Mk. 14:24).
 
30 For we see, perceive, understand, know (eido[G], yada’enu[H]) Him who said (ha-omeir[H]), “Vengeance is Mine (Liy nakam[H]), I will repay (ashaleim[H]).” [Deut. 32:35] And again, “The Lord (YHVH) will judge (yadiyn[H]) His people (amo[H]).” [Deut. 32:36; Psalms 135:14] 31 It is a terrifying, fearful (phoberos[G], mah-nora[H]) thing [a constant phobia] to fall into the hands (cheir[G], beyad[H]) of the living God (zao Theos[G], Elohiym chayiym[H]). 32 But remember (anamimnesko[G], zichru na[H]) the former, first (proteron[G], harishoniym[H]) days (hemera[G], et hayamiym[H]), when, after being enlightened (photizo[G], oru[H]), you endured, your eyes have seen (hupomeno[G], eiyneiychem[H]) a great (polus[G], rabiym[H]) fight, struggle, contest (athlesis[G], neshatem[H]) of sufferings, tortures (pathema[G], inuyim[H]), 
 
30 For we see, perceive, understand, know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” [Deut. 32:35] And again, “The Lord (YHVH) will judge His people.” [Deut. 32:36; Psalms 135:14] 31 It is a terrifying, fearful thing [a constant phobia] to fall into the hands of the living God. 32 But remember the former, first days, when, after being enlightened, you endured, your eyes have seen a great fight, struggle, contest of sufferings, tortures, 
 
“It is a terrifying, fearful thing [a constant phobia] to fall into the hands of the living God.” For the faithful follower of Yeshua, having become a child of God it is an awesome and secure thing to fall into the hands of the Father, but for the one who rejects God’s loving sacrificial offer of redemption, reconciliation and life in relationship with Him (v.29), it is a constant phobia, a terrifying reality, to fall into the hands of the Judge of the universe without blood atonement to speak in his defence.
 
“remember the former, first days” Both the writer and many of his recipients are first century Levites, priests, many of whom came to faith very early in the development of the body of Messiah.
 
“And the Word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” -Acts 6:7 KJV
 
“you endured, your eyes have seen a great fight, struggle, contest of sufferings, tortures,” Sadly the persecution and suffering being referred to here was that of their own Jewish brothers and sisters. The early persecutions suffered by Messiah following Jews were perpetrated by the illegitimate religious leaders of the first century C.E. and are highlighted in the early accounts of Shaul’s (Paul the apostle’s) actions against his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters who were Messiah believing and therefore considered apostate by many of the first century C.E. Jewish religious ruling class.
 
We know that Jewish persecution of Messianic Jews is being addressed here because the scroll was written no later than 70 C.E. and while the persecution of both Jewish and Gentile Messiah followers did begin to increase at that time, empire-wide persecution of all Messiah followers regardless of ethnic or religious associations did not occur on mass until 250-51 C.E. (A.D.)
 
33 partly (pa’am[H]) by your being made a public spectacle (theatrizo[G]) through insults and distress, and partly by becoming companions, fellow participants (koinonos[G]) with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy (sumpatheo[G], hitzta’aretem[H]) to me in my bonds (desmon[G]) [alt. to the prisoners] and accepted joyfully (meta chara[G], besimchah[H]) the seizure, spoiling, extorting (harpage[G]) of your possessions (huparchonta[G]), knowing, having learned (ginosko[G], midatechem[H]) in your souls (benafshechem[H]) that you have for yourselves [alt. have in heaven] a better (kreitton[G], kinyan tov[H]) and lasting (meno[G], vekayam[H]), substance (huparxis[G]). 
 
33 partly by your being made a public spectacle through insults and distress, and partly by becoming companions, fellow participants with those who were so treated. 34 For you showed sympathy to me in my bonds [alt. to the prisoners] and accepted joyfully the seizure, spoiling, extorting of your possessions, knowing, having learned in your souls that you have for yourselves [alt. have in heaven] a better and lasting substance. 
 
“you showed sympathy to me in my bonds [alt. to the prisoners]” In the case of the singular reading the writer (probably Barnabas, almost certainly a Levite) was imprisoned because of his faith. In the case of the plural reading it refers to numerous Jewish believers imprisoned for their faith in the early days of the growth of the body of Messiah.
 
“accepted joyfully the seizure, spoiling, extorting of your possessions, knowing, having learned in your souls that you have for yourselves [alt. have in heaven] a better and lasting substance.” All believers have a better substance an eternal possession that transcends the temporal possessions of this world (11:10, 13-16, 26, 35; 13:14; Matt. 5:11-12; 6:19-21; Rom. 8:18).
 
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” -Romans 8:18 NIV
 
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” -Matthew 6:19-21 NIV
 
35 Therefore, do not throw away your free, plain, bold, confidence (parrhesia[G]), which has a great (megas[G]) reward (misthapodosia[G], sachar rav[H]). 36 For you have need of patient endurance (hupomone[G], lesavlanut[H]), so that when you have done the will, desire (thelema[G], retzon[H]) of God (Theos[G], Elohiym[H]), you may receive (kolumbao[G]) what was promised (epaggelia[G], et-hahavtachah[H]).
 
35 Therefore, do not throw away your free, plain, bold, confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of patient endurance, so that when you have done the will, desire of God, you may receive what was promised.
 
The first century Jewish believers are admonished not to give up on their faith in Yeshua the King Messiah, but to instead endure by keeping their eyes on Him and remembering the promise given to them by God, that of an everlasting inheritance.
 
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” -Matthew 5:11-12 NIV
 
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV
 
37 “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. [Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3 LXX] [Hebrew text Habakkuk 2:3: Kiy od chazon lamoeid veyafeiach lakeitz velo yechazeiv im-yitmahemah chakeih-lo kiy-bo yavo lo yeachar “For yet a vision to an appointed time and it shall speak, blow, to the end/goal and it will not lie though it waits, wait for it, coming it has come, it will not hesitate.”] 38 But My righteous one will live by faith; [Hab. 2:4] And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” [LXX and a summation of Hab. 2:5-20] [Hebrew text of Habakkuk 2:4: Hineih upelah lo-yasherah nafsho bo vetzadiyk be’emunato yichyah “Behold, now, pay attention, he is lifted up (has drawn back through pride) and is not upright in his soul, behold, and the just/righteous, by his faith shall he live.”]
 
37 “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. [Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3 LXX] [Hebrew text Habakkuk 2:3: “For yet a vision to an appointed time and it shall speak, blow, to the end/goal and it will not lie though it waits, wait for it, coming it has come, it will not hesitate.”]
 
The sense of the Hebrew texts of both Habakkuk and Isaiah is that of an urgent coming. The language is conveying the eternally present, now and yet fully aspect of the redemptive work of God (“coming it has come”).
 
Messiah and judgement will speedily come upon all. Therefore, to become focussed on this temporary existence to the degree that we lose sight of the urgent expectancy of Yeshua’s return and the coming judgement and world to come, is one of the greatest threats to the spiritual condition of a believer in any generation.
 
We often hear of people desperate to predict the second coming, the judgement etc. They ask, “Do you believe the day is near? When do you believe He will return?” For all intents and purposes the response of the Scripture to every believer in every generation is “He will return now, He will return in a thousand years, do not ask when He will come but rather, ask ‘When He comes, will He find me faithful’?”
 
38 But My righteous one will live by faith; [Hab. 2:4] And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” [LXX and a summation of Hab. 2:5-20]  [Hebrew text of Habakkuk 2:4: “Behold, now, pay attention, he is lifted up (has drawn back through pride) and is not upright in his soul, behold, and the just/righteous, by his faith shall he live.”]
 
“See, the enemy (Babylonians, spec. the king of Babylon) is puffed up;
    his desires are not upright--
    but the righteous person will live by his faith, trust.” -Habakkuk 2:4
 
The writer reminds the Jewish recipients of his work that their ancestors were once faced with a seemingly insurmountable enemy, the Babylonian Empire of ancient times, yet God eventually reduced that empire to nothing as punishment for its pride and idolatry. He further reminds them that throughout the oppression of Israel by the Babylonians there were a righteous remnant of Jews who lived by faith in God and were kept set apart for deliverance.
 
Thus, the difficulties faced by the early Messiah following Jewish recipients of the Scroll to the Hebrews (approx. 60 C.E.) are being likened to Israel’s past sufferings in order to encourage the first century Messiah followers toward the certain promise of the glory (deliverance from their enemies) to come.
 
“Be patient therefore, Jewish brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of the Lord. Behold, the vine dresser waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has longsuffering patience for it, until He receives the early and latter rain. So also you be patient; establish, brace your hearts, inner being, centre: for the coming of the Lord draws near.” -Yaakov (James) 5:7-8
 
“And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” This is a paraphrase based on the Septuagint. However, it is also a summation that pretexts the woes to the wicked recorded in Habakkuk 2:5-20. This phrasing is not included in the Hebrew text of Habakkuk 2:4 and should be understood as an added warning against “Shrinking back”, which means “denying the faith”(v.39).
 
39 But we are not among those who draw back [through pride per Heb. Hab. 2:4] (hupostole[G], min-hansogiym[H]) to destruction, damnation (apoleia[G]), but of those who have faith, trust, belief (pistis[G], hama’amiyniym[H]) for obtaining the preservation, salvation (peripoiesis[G], lehatziyl[H]) of our souls (psuche[G], nafsheinu[H]).
 
39 But we are not among those who draw back [through pride per Heb. Hab. 2:4] to destruction, damnation, but of those who have faith, trust, belief for obtaining the salvation, preservation of our souls.
 
“Draw back and be destroyed” is the counterpoint to “Repent (turn toward), Believe and be saved”.
 
The writer is aware that he is by and large addressing true followers of Messiah who need to be encouraged through the use of both warnings and affirmations.
 
To paraphrase:
 
“We are not among those who turn their backs on God and suffer the torment they have chosen over relationship with Him, but we are those who trust, believe, have faith in His holy and pure character, and in Messiah obtain the salvation of our entire being, the preservation and perpetuation of life everlasting.”
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown

 Questions regarding godly discernment

1. Why is godly discernment so important today?
2. What does the Bible teach about godly discernment?
3. What does Yeshua (Jesus) the King Messiah teach about godly discernment?
4. How does the discernment of God's Spirit differ from human discernment which relies on human intellect alone?
5. What practical things can I put in place in order to be more discerning both spiritually and intellectually? 
​
Godly Discernment
 
Sadly, the Holy Spirit gift of godly discernment is observably the least exercised spiritual gift in the modern community of faith. Those who do exercise this gift are often accused of being divisive, critical, unspiritual. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because we have quenched the fire of the gift of discernment among us we are reaping delusion in the body of faith on both a local and global scale.
 
We have an individual and corporate moral obligation in Messiah to repent of our sin in disarming those among us who have attempted to warn us through godly discernment, and a Biblical moral imperative to begin to encourage and elevate the practice of the gift of godly discernment within both the local and wider body of the King Messiah Yeshua.
 
1. Why is godly discernment so important today?
 
First let’s make a discernment, and distinguish between discernment and godly discernment.
 
Distinction, distinguish, judge, taste, insight, perception, awareness and wisdom are synonyms of discernment, each of which inform our understanding of discernment.
 
Discernment is defined as "the ability to judge well".

Godly Discernment is defined as "Making a right judgement according to God's Spirit"

Intellect and human sight alone cannot be relied on to discern spiritual matters.

Yeshua (Jesus) says:

"Do not judge by mere appearances, but make a right judgment." -John 7:24

Godly discernment is the practice of godly judgement and is available to every believer through Yeshua according to the indwelling of God's Spirit and a disciplined knowledge of His written Word (Bible).

In the present chaos of this world believers are finding themselves in a position where they must make life changing decisions concerning issues for which an abundance of information exists but have no clear direction in which to head based on that information.

In such circumstances intellectual rational is of little help on its own. We require spiritual help from the One Who sees the unseen and knows the hearts, minds and hidden agendas of humanity as well as the workings of the spiritual forces that influence us.

Practically speaking, in many cases we are offered two opposing options, while God reveals a third option that exposes both "rational" choices and proves them to be counterfeit.

We see in part, He is all seeing, we know in part, He is all knowing. Therefore, we are foolish to base our decisions on human vision and intellect alone. Instead we are challenged to employ our sight and intellect in submission to God's Spirit and the gift of discernment that He imparts, rather than relying on our own, often flawed human discernment.
 
In matters of discernment information and the source of it is of primary importance.

Information is not synonymous with truth. It must be interpreted and discerned. We live in an age of an overabundance of information from mainstream and alternative sources, but the majority of these sources are of fallen human origin or are gleaned from the airways (media) and influenced by the spirit of the air (Satan) rather than being from God.

Ultimately the only reliable source of information comes from God Himself through Yeshua and is found in His Word both living and written, illuminated by the present help of His Spirit.

Today far too many believers are making emotional decisions based on fleshly thoughts and desires, often seeded by ungodly fears. Our failure to effectively abide in Messiah, in God, in His Word (Bible) is resulting in mass delusion and an inability to comprehend the spiritual forces at work in our midst. False choices are being presented by spiritual leaders who are often well meaning but sadly are guilty of unnecessarily dividing the body of believers. Many of these false choices seem godly but are in fact born of the fallen nature and merely disguised as godliness. Thus, the desperate need for godly discernment among believers.

One such example is the present debate concerning vaccines, another is the debate regarding political freedom. These two examples alone have become distractions that have taken the eyes of believers off Yeshua and away from the important work of the Kingdom of God.
 
At present two satanic emissaries are fighting for the hearts and minds of Messiah followers. The deity of False Freedom is battling the deity of Socialist Fascism and the prize they seek is the deluding of the minds of weak and undiscerning believers.
 
When we make "Freedom" our god we show our disregard for the God of freedom. Anarchists masquerading as Libertarians herding gullible Conservatives, ultimately seek freedom devoid of accountability, built on vain conspiracy. They are sirens of moral decay trading one form of tyranny for another. Counterfeit freedom is the brother of bondage. In practice, "the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness" is a pursuit of three false deities, Temporal Life, False Liberty, and Fading Emotionalism. But the freedom gifted of God in the King Messiah Yeshua transcends all temporal chains.
 
The Good News is this, if we return to God's Word, both written (Bible) and Living (the King Messiah Yeshua), and turn away from the voices of the air (satanic), we will be found among those whose homes are filled with light when the coming darkness descends.
 
2. What does the Bible teach about godly discernment?

Deuteronomy 4:1-10 teaches that:
Godly discernment is found in God's Instruction (Bible) and keeps us safe. Failure to consistently abide in His Word results in a lack of godly discernment.
 
Hebrews 4:12 teaches that:
Godly discernment relies on God’s Word both written and living, and is able to divide indivisible things.

1 Kings 3:7-12 teaches that:
Godly discernment helps us to govern (ourselves and others).

Ezra 8:16 teaches that:
Godly discernment is a collective responsibility. We are reliant on both God and each other in matters of discernment.

Psalm 53:1-4 teaches that:
Those who disbelieve God lack godly discernment, are corrupt and seek to harm God's people.

Proverbs 3:21-26 teaches that:
Godly discernment must be observed and acted on.

Proverbs 10:13 teaches that:
God disciplines those who lack discernment.

Daniel 5:14 teaches that:
Divine discernment is available only to the chosen of God.

1 Corinthians 2:14-15 & 1 Corinthians 11:31 teach that:
Godly discernment is of God's Spirit and not of the human nature. A believer who relies on God's Spirit to judge him is not swayed by the false judgements he makes of himself nor the false judgements others make. Therefore, the one who relies on God’s Spirit at work in him is able to discern seemingly undiscernible things.

1 Corinthians 14:29 teaches that:
Godly discernment is required in order to judge the words of prophets.

1 Corinthians 12:10 teaches that:
The Holy Spirit gift of discernment distinguishes between spiritual forces and sees unseen things.

Colossians 1:8 explains that:
We are admonished to be discerning so as not to be lead astray.

1 John 4:1 teaches that:
Godly discernment tests spirits.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 teaches that:
Godly discernment tests everything and holds on to what is good.

1 Corinthians 12:13 teaches that:
Godly discernment affirms the authority and deity of Yeshua (YHVH with us) the King Messiah (Imanu – with us, El – God).
 
3. What does Yeshua (Jesus) teach about godly discernment?
 
In John 5:30
Yeshua teaches that godly discernment listens to and hears from God and does not seek self as the source of distinguishing between truth and error.

In John 8:15
Yeshua teaches that godly discernment does not judge according to the fallen nature.
 
In Mathew 11:25-30
Yeshua teaches that godly discernment is revealed to infants while intellectual giants fail to comprehend it.
 
In Matthew 7:13-20
Yeshua teaches that godly people can be discerned based on their fruit, both its type and its condition.

4. How does the discernment of God's Spirit differ from human discernment, which relies on human intellect alone?
 
We have already been given the answer to this question in the preceding Scriptures:
 
Godly discernment does not rely on human intellect.
 
Godly discernment requires the discerner to be a child of God in Yeshua the King Messiah.
 
Godly discernment requires the discerner to be familiar with God’s Word, written and living.
 
Godly discernment requires the discerner to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Spirit of the Father and the Son).
 
Godly discernment requires humility (revealed in children [innocent of heart and mind, teachable and inquisitive], kept from those in a state of intellectual pride).
 
Godly discernment can distinguish between spirits and sees unseen things because it is a gift of the Holy Spirit rather than a human artform.
 
Godly discernment is completely reliant on God both in its use of spiritual knowledge and its application in guiding human intellect.
 
Godly discernment often seems counterintuitive because it is propelled by the Word of God Yeshua, Who divides between indivisible things (Heb. 4:12).
 
These are just a few of the many ways godly discernment differs from the discernment of human intellect and rational philosophy.
 
5. What practical things can I put in place in order to be more discerning both spiritually and intellectually?
 
The acronym R.I.T.E.S is a good start:
 
R - Repent of intellectual arrogance and Rely on God
I - be Intentional about daily Scripture reading and prayer
T -Turn away from unreliable sources of information
E - Enter into dialogue with godly people
S - Submit all decisions to God through Messiah Yeshua in the power of His Holy Spirit
 
Admit before God and to myself that without His help I am unable to discern correctly.
 
Repent of reliance on my own intellect in discerning.
 
Repent of any part I have played in quenching the use of the Holy Spirit given gift of discernment among the body of believers.
 
Choose to be completely reliant on God in Yeshua the King Messiah.
 
Be intentional about reading God’s Word (the Bible) daily.
 
Be intentional in praying for the revelation of God’s Spirit when deciding matters great and small.
 
Turn away from information sources that I’ve known to be unreliable, including those which claim to be vetted by believers but bear the rotten fruit of apostasy and proving that they’re not walking in step with God’s Spirit in Messiah Yeshua.
 
When asked to discern between things, seek counsel from godly family and friends who are genuine disciples of Yeshua the King Messiah.
 
Choose to be teachable when asking for advice from godly people rather than coming with an emotional agenda.
 
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” -Proverbs 3:5-6
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown