Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

The study of Nehemiah chapters 9 and 10. Because of this trouble, the leadership of Israel made a decision. Because of the fact that we have trouble, we realize we had to change our direction. We are not going to continue in the way we used to go that caused us to stumble and to fall and be astray away from the Lord. No, no, no. We are making a decision to follow the Lord. So what did they do? They made a covenant. In Hebrew, we call it Amanah. It's a word that we often use. It's like making an agreement with the Lord.

Now, of course, we often make an agreement with the Lord many times and we don't succeed to fulfill those agreements. You remember that when New Year comes, we say I'll turn a new leaf, I'm going to start everything afresh. And we turn the leaf, the New Year comes, and we find out that we continue on to do the very same old things we used to do in the past. And that's why you have to be careful when you make an agreement with the Lord. You ask the Lord, we ask the Lord to give us grace to help us to be faithful in a commitment that we have made.

But you see, they made a covenant. They made an agreement. And you notice that this is beginning at the top with the leadership. Number one, we find out the princes in verse 38b. Number two, we find out the Levites. And number three, we find out the priests. In other words, they signed it. It says here Khatmu in Hebrew, to sign it. They wrote a big list of a covenant with the Lord and then they have signed that covenant with the leadership of Israel, namely the princes, the Levites, and the priests.

Now, you notice immediately if you go to the next verse, this is chapter 10 and verse 1 in the English text. You notice that the first one to sign this was none other but Nehemiah himself. You can see that he really meant business. He's the one who takes leadership. Notice verse one, "Now those that sealed were: Nehemiah, the Tirshatha." The word Tirshatha is a Persian word. It's Aramaic really. It speaks about the governor. He was the governor there in the city of Jerusalem. He signed this first.

And from verse 1b all the way to verse 27, we have a list of Jewish names, beginning with you notice at the end of verse one, Zidkijah. Verse two, Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah. Notice the Hebrew names are so beautiful because every name that we have been given as Jewish people among our own people link us with the living God. Jeremiah, Jehovah will be exalted. Zidkijah, Jehovah is righteous. Seraiah, Jehovah is a prince. Every Hebrew name has a meaning.

In biblical times, when a Jewish mother would give a name to her son or her daughter, it's always linked with, for example, Immanuel, Gabriel. Everything has to do with the living God of Israel. You remember the name of the three Jewish boys, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael. All these names connect with God. Hananiah, Jehovah had grace. Azariah, Jehovah have helped me. Mishael, who is like unto God. The Hebrew name has meanings.

And if we are going to go through the list, you'll see almost every name has a meaning. But those lists here in verses 1b to verse 27 is a list of Hebrew, Israeli, Jewish men that signed that agreement, that covenant. Verses 1b to verse 8, it is the names of the priests of Israel. Verses 9 to 13, we have the names of the Levites of Israel. And verses 14 to 27, we have the names of the chiefs of Israel. We call it in Hebrew, the heads of the nation. And all of these leaders of Israel signed it.

Again, I would like to mention it is important to make a commitment to the Lord, but we always have to qualify that. And I tell you why. Because many times we make decisions to say, Lord, I'm going to follow you and I'm going to do everything for you. I promise I'm going to get up in the morning and I'm going to pray every day. I promise I'm going to get up in the morning and I'm going to read my Bible, read the scriptures every morning. I promise I'm going to go every week to the meeting.

I'm going to be in the Bible class and I'm going to be in a Saturday or the Sunday ministry meeting. I'll be there, Lord. I promise. I'm committing myself to that. And time passes by, we find out that we are not as committed as we have made promises to the Lord. It's best to say, Lord, help me to do so. Lord, I need you to help me. You know my weakness. You know my failure. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

The Apostle Paul taught us that really the spirit, we have a new man, we have a new heart because we are believers. But the flesh is weak and we cannot trust our flesh. We make commitment. We say I'm going to do this for the Lord. And you know that those of us that became new believers, we promised to God we're going to go after you in the fire, in the water, wherever it's going to be, I'm going to follow you. But when tests come, we find ourselves failing on our faces.

And that's why it's so important to say, Lord, help me. You know my weakness. Paul said, "The things that I want to do, these I do not do. And the things that I do not want to do, these things I do." And then he said at the end of Romans 7, "O wretched man that I am!" And then he says, "Who shall deliver me from this body of humiliation?" You notice he doesn't say what, but he says who because he directs himself to the person of Yeshua the Messiah.

He's the only one who can help us to do the right thing and to walk in the right way. It's not what we say, but who we follow. It's a person that is able to sustain us and help us. So really, you can see that they made a decision. And the second thing that I want you to understand in verse 28, it says not only that they themselves, the men, but also as it says, their wives, their sons, their daughters. And now notice, sometimes we talk about the age of understanding. What is the age of accountability?

Here it is, verse 28b, "Every one having knowledge, and having understanding." You see, they had to be able to understand in order to make a commitment to say, this is the direction that I'm going. And so we often talk about in the New Testament, we ask the question what is the age of accountability for which a person is going to be accountable before the Lord for his personal soul? How will he or she be accountable? At what age? Is it five years old? Is it 10 years old? Is it 15 years old?

Well, there is no age. Only everyone having knowledge and having understanding. One might have understanding at the age of 10 and another one have an understanding at the age of five. But all those that have clear understanding from the word of God, they were the ones that have committed themselves and they followed with understanding what their leaders have decided to do.

Now, notice, we continue on in chapter 10. And from verses 30 to the end of the chapter, verse 39, they have the six-fold commitment that the people of Israel promised to God, to the God of Israel. I want you to notice that and I will highlight them to you as I'm sharing with you in this ministry. You notice the first of the commitment is separation from the people of the land. This is verse 30. And I'm reading, notice the word we mentioned. "And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons."

That's the first commitment they have. Now, why they had to make this decision? Because God knew what the people of the land around, especially the land of Canaan, the surrounding nations, what they believe in and who they believe in. Those nations were pagan nations. They were idol worshippers. They have ended up leading many of our Jewish people who have intermarried with them away from the God of Israel. They end up ultimately living a life that is away from the Lord.

Like, for example, look what happened to the king of Israel, Solomon. He married 700 wives. He had 300 concubines. And the vast majority of them were women from the nations around him. And you remember what Solomon had done? He built altars to their gods. He ended up to offer sacrifices to his wives' gods. And he lost the kingdom because of this condition in his life. He started well and he ended up in a very poor condition, though he was a man that was chosen by God.

And you see what we learn from that, that there is a reason that God warned the people of Israel to be a separated nation. I want you to read with me for a moment, Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verses one, two, and three there. It says there, and I'm reading, "When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For they will turn away thy son from following me."

The day they may serve other gods, Elohim Achayrim. So will the anger of the Lord kindle against you and destroy you suddenly. See, God gave this instruction to our forefathers for a reason. And that's why you often find that in our Jewish community many times they would not marry with a non-Jew. And biblically speaking, it's correct. But there is another issue, of course. They did not accept the Messiah. They have another problem. It's not sufficient enough to say, well, I was taught this way and therefore I do so, but at the same time, you reject the word of the Lord for every other area in life.

They needed to accept the Messiah. They need to turn their heart to the God of Israel and they needed to commit themselves to the word of God. And so you can see these people made a decision and they say, wait a minute, wait a minute, we are going to separate ourselves. This is verse 30. Not give our daughters to the people of the land, nor take our sons to their daughters. And again, I would like to say, and I mentioned it already in our previous ministry meeting, 2 Corinthians chapter 6.

We read this passage already last time where the Apostle Paul made a reference to the importance of separating from what a believer has to do with an unbeliever. Remember what he said in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14? "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God."

The believer in Yeshua the Messiah is a child of God and he or she ought to live a separated life, not a sectarian life, not a legal kind of life, but a separated unto the Lord. And how many headaches we all have when we didn't follow those instructions. We know that in our own personal life. We know that very well. And it is only the mercy of the Lord who bear with us and help us to continue on and he restores us and he rebuilds us back because we have gone astray.

So the first one is separation from the people of the land, verse 30. Verse 31a is the second commitment that they have made. The second one was that they were going to keep the Shabbat day and the holidays. Notice that. He said, "And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day." Now, this is interesting. Now again, remember the Shabbat day was given to our nation Israel.

It's a sign of the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel. And every time when Israel failed to keep Shabbat day, Israel was disciplined by the Lord. And it is so interesting is that you see they were not to buy and sell on the Shabbat day as well. And you see the commitment. They said if any of the people of the land will bring any ware, anything, or victual, anything they buy and sell, he says we would not buy it of them on a Shabbat day on a holiday.

Why? Because in a sense, you learn from this that the Lord did not want Israel to do business on a Shabbat day, to devote it to the Lord, to devote it to the God of Israel. And therefore they were called in this verse to separate in such a way that Shabbat will be a special unique day that Israel as a nation is to keep unto the Lord. Let me read to you a verse in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 27. There we read, "But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched."

Israel, you had to keep the Shabbat, God have said to our forefathers, because by doing so, you set apart this day to the Lord. It is part and parcel with the law that God had given to the nation of Israel as is clearly defined in Exodus chapter 20. God have commanded Israel to celebrate or to keep the Shabbat day. You notice in Leviticus chapter 23, before you even read all the seven feasts of the Lord, the first thing that is mentioned is thou shalt keep the Shabbat day holy unto the Lord.

Now, of course, again, we can go around and we can discuss this issue and there are many conviction that people have about the Shabbat with respect to our present day dispensation. And that's fine. It's an individual conscience as far as I understand from scripture. But there is a great lesson for us. There is a principle that we learn here in this passage. Because it shows us the important that Shabbat is spoke of.

The word lashevet speaks of to sit down. The word lishbot mean to strike down, not to do anything. And it speaks of rest. And you know how wonderful it is for us who are believers in Yeshua the Messiah, we have a rest that is embedded in the finished work of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. We have a rest because of what he have done for us in order to provide for us salvation. And as Hebrews 4 says, there remaineth yet a rest for the people of God. There's still a future rest that remaining for all believers in Yeshua the Messiah in a future day. You can read of it in Hebrews chapter 4 and verses one to verse 9.

But they made a commitment that now not only they're going to separate from the people of the land, number one, verse 30, verse 31a they will keep the Shabbat day holy unto the Lord and the holy days, the feasts of Jehovah, the feasts of the Lord. Now, the third thing that they made commitment to do, this Jewish remnant that returned to Israel, is found in verse 31b of Nehemiah chapter 10. They committed themselves to observe not only the Shabbat day in relationship to the person, to the individual Israeli, but also God gave to Israel the Shabbat rest of the land itself.

Now notice verse 31b, it said, "and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt." Now, what does that mean that we will leave the seventh year? You see, God gave to Israel not only to keep a daily Shabbat, but also God gave to Israel the Shabbat rest of the land. You see, everything the law and the commandments of God is link with the land that God had given to our forefathers. Well what they are to do? They are to work the ground for six years.

You have a property, for example, every tribe have its own property and the lands that they possess, families will possess a piece of land. They will work the ground one year, they will sow and they will reap. The second year they will sow and reap. The third year they will sow and reap. The fourth year they will sow and reap. The fifth year they will sow and reap. The sixth year they will sow and reap. But God said the seventh year you don't touch the ground. You leave the ground as it is.

And let the ground, not only you, Hebrew, Israeli, Jewish individual, but your property, your land, you will not work on that seventh year. And I want to just show you this. This is important in connection with the land. Turn to Exodus chapter 23 and verse 10 and 11. Again, the instruction is from the Lord through Moshe. It says, "And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard."

In other words, Israel, God says you don't work the ground on a seventh year. You let it rest and the only people who will be able to glean from whatever is found there is your poor and the beast of the field and the people that have a need. But you don't touch it, not your vineyard, not your olive yard, nothing. You will let the land rest. Naturally speaking, you and I would think about, well, how they're going to eat if they are not going to glean on a seventh year nothing? Well, God gave them an answer.

You have been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411 Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com. You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.