Relationships are complicated for us humans. There are always those who are out to trick, deceive, overcome, dominate and control. Relationship with God is not like that however, he did not come to dominate, or control or even push us into anything. He did make a way for us to have a relationship with him and we are invited to commune with him but we are never forced. This is such a different type of relationship we may never understand why God would want to fellowship with us. It is to our benefit that we do commune with him just as Abraham did. This however does not mean he is our Jeanie in a bottle, giving us whatever we desire. We have to notice how Abraham reacts to the news that Sarah will have a baby. He doesn’t believe it, even though God told him once before he and Sarah would have children. Abraham even makes petition for Ishmael who is already 13. Abraham is our example of the Melchizedek Priesthood is all about, fellowship with the Almighty.
When Abraham was 91there were wars all over the land. The children of Tubal and the children of Chittim fought and the Chittimites over took the sons of Tubal. The children of Tubal decided not to intermarry with the Chittimites but the Chittimites forcibly took the daughters of Tubal so that when the sons of Tubal rose up to fight they realized they were fighting against their own children. The sons of Chittim established two cities by the sea. It would seem that people overcoming was a regular pastime, just like today.
Gen 17:1-27 1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
The Lord OT:3068 Yehovah (yeh-ho-vaw'); from OT:1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God: KJV - Jehovah, the Lord. Compare OT:3050, OT:3069.(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
God OT:410 'el (ale); shortened from OT:352; strength; as adjective, mighty; especially the Almighty (but used also of any deity): KJV - God (god), goodly, great, idol, might (-y one), power, strong. Compare names in "-el."(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Almighty OT:7706 Shadday (shad-dah'-ee); from OT:7703; the Almighty: KJV - Almighty.(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
I want to reference the names used of who was speaking to Abraham because they are very important. Jesus said that no one has seen the Father except for himself as he was sent from heaven as the living bread. Jesus says he gives his flesh for the life of the world. He also states that the Father dwells in us through the Spirit and that he Jesus is the Savior of the world. If we can keep these things straight we will see more clearly who is visiting the Old Testament Patriarchs, sometimes angels and sometimes Jesus who is called Yahweh or Jehovah, or El Shaddai. But when someone introduces himself with a name it is important we take note as the one speaking is declaring who exactly he is. We seem to have misconceptions of Jesus or Jehovah or Yahweh, but clearly the same individual announced himself as the Almighty God. Remembering that Elohim is plural in the Hebrew (meaning three or more) and that we can see that from scripture there is a Father, a Son and a Holy Spirit, we can now get a bigger picture of who Jesus is and what he did. He is not the Father as Jesus himself puts distinction between himself and the Father but he is Almighty. That the Almighty God did lay his life down for the world is huge, who wouldn’t want to serve a God like that? He didn’t come to earth demanding anything from us but instead he gave himself for us all. Until the Holy Spirit was given to mankind, to indwell in us, we could not fellowship with God so as we see with Abraham, the Almighty God made a few appearances to instruct Abraham.
John 6:44-51 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.48 I am that bread of life.49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.KJV
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. KJV
1 John 4:11-14 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.KJV
John 8:56-58 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.KJV
Jesus said that Abraham rejoiced to see His day, how could he have seen Jesus’ day? This was not the first time Yahweh/Elohim/Jehovah spoke to Abraham. Within one of their conversations the plan of Jesus coming to earth and laying down his life must have been revealed to Abraham. The Jews asked Jesus how he saw Abraham, physically Jesus was too young to have lived at that time, but Jesus drops a bomb on them. He tells them that he lived before Abraham because he is I Am. That’s why they wanted to stone him. They couldn’t understand it. He was standing in front of them and saying he is the great I AM. People try to explain away Jesus’ statement as a figure of speech, however if he was only speaking figuratively they wouldn’t have intended to murder him. The entire context defines who he is and where he was from. John 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. KJV He tells them he is from above, not from this earth, he came from somewhere not of this world. It is hard to understand why he came to rescue us, but sometimes when someone gives a gift one just has to accept it, and one day the receiver will understand why it was given.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
Now the bible says it is Elohim that talked with Abraham throughout the rest of this passage. Moses used Elohim instead of Almighty God as was announced by Jehovah. This seems confusing but really it isn’t. One of the beings that make up Elohim comes down to Abraham to speak to him; he is Elohim (God) known as Yahweh or Jehovah, who tells Abraham he is Almighty God. We have to understand that God is a title not a name, there are three or more with the title God, the one known as Yahweh is the one speaking, however Moses uses this title to identify him from here on out. The Holy Spirit is also known as God but has a different name, ruwach, or wind, breath, wisdom, just to name a few.
OT:430 'elohiym (el-o-heem'); plural of OT:433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: KJV - angels, exceeding, God (gods)- dess, -ly), (very) great, judges, mighty.(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Once again it is established that God gave the land to the covenant seed of Abraham, the covenant seed was identified by circumcision. That presents a problem as Ishmael and Isaac and possibly Abraham’s six other sons were also circumcised. Anyone of Abraham’s house was to be circumcised to establish covenant. Yet after Jesus laid his life down for the world there is no circumcision or un-circumcision, we are one in Christ. That is a more binding covenant with God because of the innocent life and blood that was shed for the world. Incidentally they should not have been strangers to that land as it was given to Shem’s descendents but Ham’s descendents moved into that land and established themselves there.
9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Abraham talks back to God just as friend talks to one another. It as if Abraham wants to say ‘is this a joke’ to Elohiim.
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
Elohim’s covenant is established through Isaac but Ishmael is blessed with abundance and twelve princes. God did not forget Ishmael.
23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.27 And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him. KJV
That must have been one painful day around Abraham’s household. But this was the sign of the covenant. It also established the non mixing of Abraham’s seed with the other nations. The only way to know if someone was of the covenant was for them to drop their drawers,that just seems funny to me. The Book of Jubilees adds to this with some insight and some hindsight.
We see that the Almighty came to announce the birth of Isaac to Abraham. It is awesome to recognize that the Almighty takes an interest in humans, and even came to rescue humanity. He tells Abraham to be perfect, so it must be possible to be perfect. He wouldn’t ask Abraham otherwise. It is our privilege to know such a savior. And just like Abraham, we can have a personal relationship with him as well because he sent his Spirit to indwell us. Abraham was so comfortable with God he could laugh as if being told a joke. For us it is as simple as starting a conversation and listening.
End Notes:
Aramaic – This is an awesome work done by Victor Alexander worth following up on
http://www.v-a.com/bible/
http://www.v-a.com/bible/aramaic.html
Aramaic Bible
Jesus the Messiah spoke in the Galilean dialect of the Ancient Aramaic language. This is the language in which the disciples and the apostles preached the Gospel and the scribes recorded the Scriptures. The New Testament has been preserved in this sacred, scribal language since the Apostolic Age. The whole Bible was originated in this language. The translation that you find on this website is made from the original Ancient Aramaic Scriptures directly into English, bypassing the errors of translation introduced in the Greek Original, the Latin Vulgate and all the Western translations made from them. This is an attempt to rekindle the Apostolic Faith in the name of Eashoa Msheekhah (Jesus the Messiah) throughout the world.Translator Notes resumed (June 18, 2011)
There are some significant misconceptions in the knowledge of modern theologians.
One of them is that the name of Eashoa did not appear in the Old Testament. They say, "If Jesus was the name of the Messiah prophesied by the Scriptures, it would have been mentioned in the Old Testament."
That is true; but the name of Eashoa was mentioned in the Old Testament. It happens to be also the name of Eashoa Barnun. Therefore, no one at the time of Eashoa thought different, because no one spoke English then, and in fact the English language did not exist at the time of Eashoa.
Of course, the name of Jesus would not be mentioned in the English language Old Testaments, because His name was not "Jesus" then, it was "Eashoa." It is an easy misconception to have, if you do not speak any other language but English.
Another misconception of Western theologians is that the word "Trinity" does not exist in the Bible. They think that the term emerged out of Catholicism's formulation of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is not the case; the word "Trinity" comes from the Ancient Aramaic word "Q'numeh" or "Tla Q'numeh."
The word "Q'numeh" has been retired from the scribal language because it is a sacred word and must not be used in its secular connotation, in the same way the word "Maran" is used exclusively to refer to "the Lord."
This is the follow up article (June 21, 2011)
As a follow up to this article, I wish to present the argument that if everybody thinks the name of Eashoa is not in the Old Testament Scriptures and the word for the Trinity is not ever mentioned anywhere in the Scriptures, why wouldn't somebody today say that the name of Eashoa did appear in the Old Testament Scriptures, namely Eashoa Barnun, and why wouldn't somebody today say that the word for the Trinity is mentioned twice in the Gospel of John 5:26, "Because as for the Father there is Life through his trinity, so also He has given the Son Life through his trinity...."? I translated this verse more than ten years ago and posted it on my website.
Wouldn't a Jewish convert to Christianity, who had learned the Hebrew language, come up and say to the Western churches that the name of Eashoa (or Yeshua) was indeed mentioned in the Book of Joshua, that it's not "Joshua" but Eashoa (or Yeshua) that was mispronounced as "Joshua"? By the way, the name of Eashoa Barnun is alway translated as "Joshua Barnun" in all the Books of the Scriptures where he is mentioned.
There is no such word as Joshua. The letter "J" was not invented until about a thousand years ago, and thereafter it was used in place of the consonant "i" wherever a Hebrew or Aramaic name began with the letter "i."
The English speaking churches in the whole world have refused to deal with this issue; they all assume that the name of Eashoa (Jesus) was not mentioned in the Old Testament Scriptures and that the word for "the Trinity" has not been mentioned ever in the Scriptures. One would think that there would be one Westerner, who had studied Hebrew or Aramaic, in one thousand years, since the English language was invented, who would have come along and said that the name of Jesus is Eashoa in the original Scriptures.
Well, the reason an English speaking scholar who had learned Hebrew or Aramaic would not have, and in fact has not, said anything about this anomaly, is that the English language Bibles have all been translated from the Greek Septuagint and the Greek Original. In the Greek language the word Trinity has never been identified. The word "Qnumeh" has been rendered as "Qnomos," and is explained as something else. And the name of Eashoa or Yeshua is rendered "Yesus," because the Greek language lacks the letter "Sheen." Since the English Bibles are all translated from the Greek Original, the name has ended up as "Jesus." (For a more detailed explanation, visit http://www.v-a.com/bible/jesus.html.)
| Zechariah This is it: the Book that prophesies about the Coming of Eashoa (Jesus) by name! This is the major breakthrough of this translation project. To read this translation online, you must be a Supporter. Please visit the Supporters Page for more info. This is a translation of the Book of Zechariah from the Ancient Aramaic Scriptures of the Ancient Church of the East. Zechariah 3:1 is a prophesy regarding Eashoa Msheekhah (Jesus the Messiah) five hundred years before He came to the world. Every chapter in the Book of Zechariah is about Eashoa (Jesus) the Messiah, so how could all the churches have deleted the name of Eashoa (Jesus) from their Old Testaments? Why was the name of Eashoa (Jesus) deleted and falsified as "Joshua" in all the Scriptures from the time of the Greek Septuagint to the present? The name of Eashoa (Jesus) appears in the 3rd chapter of the Book of Zechariah. In all the other English language translations, the name used is "Joshua." There is no such name in the Hebrew language. The name of Eashoa Bar Nun is also transliterated in error in the English language Bibles. It should not have been "Joshua Barnun", but "Jesus Barnun". Therefore, here in this Book, in the Book of Zechariah chapter 3, verse 1, the name is not "Joshua" or "Joshua Bar Nun"; the name is Eashoa (Jesus). There is no Bar Nun. If this verse was about Eashoa Bar Nun, it should have appeared as "Joshua Bar Nun" in all the English language Bibles. But it did not; therefore, it is clearly a deliberate distortion of the Scriptures. |
