Prophet Pearls #11 – Vayigash (Ezekiel 37:15-28)

Prophet Pearls Vayigash, Ezekiel, Aliyah, tel abib, tel aviv, haftarah, vayigash, Ingathering, Israel, judah, josephus, Keith Johnson, nehemia gordon, northern kingdom, parashah, Parsha, parshas, parshat, prophets, rabbi akiva, rabbi eliezer, return of exiles, salvation in tanakh, two sticks unitedIn this episode of Prophet Pearls, Vayigash (Ezekiel 37:15-28)Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson set the stage by describing the pivotal time in the history of Israel and Judah when Ezekiel lived and prophesied. They also share the life-changing encounters they've each had with the writings of this prophet. Word studies include:“son of man,” “join,” the plural of “one,” “settlements,” and the rare context of “save” in this Portion. At center stage are the ten lost tribes of Israel. We learn what Josephus knew about the tribes, as well as the opposing views of Rabbis Akiva and Eliezer regarding their ingathering. Proving one of the rabbis in error, Gordon recounts the day he was driving a tractor on an Israeli kibbutz and witnessed a convoy of Ethiopians traversing the highway—fulfilling Ezekiel’s prophecy as they made Aliyah. Gordon and Johnson close with a prayer that light be shed on all 12 tribes, and that the day soon comes when there is one nation, one temple, and one king.

"As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself... Then take another stick... Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick." (Ezekiel 37:16-17)

I look forward to reading your comments!

Download Prophet Pearls Vayigash Transcript
Prophet Pearls #11 - Vayigash (Ezekiel 37:15-28)

You are listening to Prophet Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Keith: Shalom chaverim shelanu! That means, “Peace to you, our friends,” in Hebrew. In fact, that word is actually going to sneak itself into the following Prophet Pearls section. This is Keith Johnson, along with my friend, Nehemia Gordon. We are ready again, at the end of the calendar year, to take another peek into the Prophets to see if we can find even more pearls to share with you. Shalom chaver sheli, ata muchan? Are you ready?

Nehemia: Ani muchan, chaveri. I am ready, my friend. Let’s do it. I’m excited.

Keith: Here we go. Boy, I can’t believe it. We’re already at the end of this calendar year. This is the last Shabbat of the calendar year…

Nehemia: That’s right.

Keith: …where around the world people will be opening the Prophets. They’ll be opening the Torah, not only in synagogues, Nehemia, but also in congregations and fellowships. Many people that aren’t a part of an official fellowship are actually following the reading of not only the Torah portions, but of the Prophets sections. I’m so excited that we have been able now, this will be… I mean, we’ve been doing this now for some time. We’re in I think our 11th?

Nehemia: The 11th episode.

Keith: The 11th episode.

Nehemia: And we’re almost done with Genesis. This is the second to last.

Keith: Wow. The second to last in Genesis. So we’re going to get started. We’re going to be looking in the book of Ezekiel, and I have to tell you, this book is - I don’t even know how to say it. It’s very, very important to me, personally, and we can talk a little bit about that as we get started. But sometimes, I’ve got to tell you, it’s frustrating, Nehemia, that these sections are what they are, and some people say, “Why didn’t you address this section? Why didn’t you address that section? What about this verse and that verse?” And we have to kind of pick and choose about giving context, but really, we have to focus in on the section that is the Prophets section.

Nehemia: Right. And so there are these traditional sections of the Prophets that correspond to the Torah portions. Of course, the 54 Torah portions cover the entire Five Books of Moses. The prophet portions only…

Keith: You know, in the Original Torah Pearls we did that entire thing.

Nehemia: Right. In the Original Torah Pearls we did that entire Five Books of Moses. It was three or four years ago. I mean it was amazing. But the Prophets sections, the traditional Prophets sections read in the synagogues, only cover about 12% of the Prophets sections of the Bible.

Keith: Is that the percentage of that?

Nehemia: I actually looked it up. It’s 12%. Meaning, I calculated it myself.

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: Based on number of verses, not number of words. But the number verses is 12% of the verses, approximately.

Keith: So can I be clear before you go on?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: I want people to understand that you and I didn’t sit down and say, “Let’s find the sections that we’ll read on the prophets. In other words, these are historical sections that are matched. I mean matched based on the content.

Nehemia: Right. And actually, there are certain sections where there are different traditions about what to read.

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: Although, in this particular one, Vayigash, most Jewish communities in fact read what we are going to discuss today, which is Ezekiel 37:15 to 28. Actually, some Karaite Jews have a different tradition, which is to read this week Joshua 14:6 through 15. But we’ll leave that for a different section.

Keith: Wait. So we’re not going to go by the Karaite tradition though you’re a Karaite?

Nehemia: No, these are all traditions. We’re not saying that the prophets came and said, “Thus shall you read in the week in which you read Genesis 44.” No, that’s not at all what we’re saying. What we’re saying is, what originally happened is the Jews were forbidden to read from the Torah by the Greeks. They came along and said, “We’ve got to read something in the Prophets that remind us of the Torah portion for the week.” The sections we read today may not be what was read in the second century B.C.

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: Meaning, the Jewish communities were scattered throughout the world, and they developed lots of different traditions. Just to give you an example, for Vayeitzei, they’re all reading from Hosea, roughly the same chapters, but for example, the Jews of Europe, the Ashkenazim, would read Hosea 12:13 to 14:10. But the Sephardim, the Jews of North Africa and the Middle East would read Hosea 11:7 to 12:12. So there was a tiny overlap of two verses, but basically…

Keith: And then, of course, the Methodists, we read a different section.

Nehemia: Well, I don’t know what the Methodists read. I don’t know anything about that. I’m just saying there are different Jewish traditions about these things. And we’ve really chosen just simply the most common one as a point of reference. And really, what I’m going to struggle with today is to focus on Ezekiel 15 to 28 and not Ezekiel 1 to 14, which is what I really want to talk about.

Keith: We are going to be true to what we said we would do. But again, when it’s important, and context-wise, we have to be able to take a look at what’s going on.

Nehemia: Right. Like we did last week.

Keith: Like we did last week. So, before we get started, Nehemia, you’ve done a phenomenal job of giving what I call a little context, historical context, of who the person is - Ezekiel. And I have something that I actually want to bring up, maybe a little bit after that, but first, give a little nuts and bolts on the background to the book.

Nehemia: Yes. Did you know that Ezekiel was the first Tel Avivian? The first man to live in Tel Aviv in all of history? Or the first Jew, I should say, that we know of.

Keith: Really?

Nehemia: Did you know that?

Keith: No, I did not.

Nehemia: So Tel Aviv is a modern city that was established in Israel in 1909; it never existed before that. There had been a Canaanite city called Yafo on that site in biblical times. But Tel Aviv - that name appears in the book of Ezekiel as a location in Babylon where Ezekiel, at least at one point, was located. So that’s really interesting about Ezekiel, that he was one of the few prophets who prophesied in Babylon. And you could say Jonah kind of did, because he was in Assyria. But really other than Jonah, who has like a one verse prophecy, “Forty days, and Nineveh is overthrown,” Ezekiel is the Jewish prophet in Babylonia. He was taken in exile and went to Babylonia and prophesied from there, from Babylonia.

And it’s interesting, because most people speak about the destruction of the Temple, but what they don’t realize is that the Babylonians really destroyed the Kingdom of Judah in two phases. In 597 BC they really took the elite of Judean society as exiles into Babylonia, into Babylon, and between 597 and 586, that period of 11 years, Judea was this vassal state, basically, like… I don’t know, like Puerto Rico is to America, not an independent state, subjugated by Babylonia.

And then in 586 BCE they rebelled, and then the Babylonians came back and finished the job and destroyed everything. So Ezekiel is from 597, from the first wave of exile. And so a lot of his prophecies will take place between the two exiles, meaning between 597 and 586. So he’s in exile, but the Temple’s still standing. And part of his prophecy then continues after the Temple is destroyed.

Keith: Well, I tell you, it’s interesting for me. I oftentimes have to refer back to what happened to me, and the book of Ezekiel is a really important aspect.

Nehemia: Oh, yes. That’s right.

Keith: Because before I ever knew anything about going to Israel - though I have to say I went to Israel in… I think it was 1988, in the fall of 1988. And when I went in 1988, you could still do things like go inside the Golden Dome and go up on the Temple Mount…

Nehemia: And did you do it?

Keith: I absolutely did in 1988 - I had no idea what I was doing. I went up there, went into the to the Dome of the Rock, as they call it, and saw all sorts of things. But in 2002, basically is when I went, and that’s where I met you, and really, it was the book of Ezekiel that caused me to be sitting here with you today. The book of Ezekiel, in fact, the third verse, where I had this dream, and in the dream this lady’s voice says, “You tell me where the scroll opens up, and you win a million dollars.” I said, “Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 3.” And what’s so funny, Nehemia, is I had this dream, I go to Israel, I meet you; the Torah scroll, anyone who hasn’t heard the story, it’s all available, you can go to bfainternational.com, the front page about our ministry and you’ll hear about it. But the thing that’s amazing to me is that for years I never looked to see what Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 3 said.

Nehemia: Wow.

Keith: So in other words, I had this dream that says go to the land, and I meet you, and I never go to the verse. And part of the reason, I have to be honest, is I was a little nervous.

Nehemia: You were?

Keith: As I thought about it, I was nervous. And when I opened it up, there’s this phrase that is really cool to me. In Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 3 in English, and I’m reading out of the NASB, it says, “The word of the LORD came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi,” I love that name, “in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of Yehovah, the hand of the LORD was upon him.” So when I opened a Hebrew Bible, it starts out and it says, “Hayo haya davar Yehovah.” And this phrase is so cool.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Because first of all, you can’t find that exact phrase anywhere else in the Bible. You can’t find it anywhere else in the Tanakh. But the construction of the phrase you do find, where you have two different words that are kind of… and in English what they say is, “And the word of the LORD came expressly.” That’s the way that they’re trying to communicate it. But when I went to open this verse and look at it in the original language, I actually got kind of excited, because I felt it was sort of rhythmic. “Hayo haya davar Yahweh.” “Hayo haya davar Adonai.” “Hayo haya davar Hashem.” No - “Hayo haya davar Yehovah.”

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: It’s rhythmic, Nehemia! And that phrase, in English it’s saying it came expressly. For me, when I did finally look at that verse and went further to look at the verse at the end, where it says, “and the hand of Yehovah was upon him,” I felt excited. I’d never read the verse before, at least, I didn’t know anything about it. I never memorized it. And it’s what showed up in my dream. Now, here we are doing Prophet Pearls together, and we’re talking from the book of Ezekiel. I’m just excited about that.

Nehemia: Yes. That is exciting.

Keith: So it’s Ezekiel chapter…

Nehemia: And do you know that the book of Ezekiel was really important for me, as well?

Keith: Really?

Nehemia: And I don’t know that’s the reason that we’re sitting here together, but definitely, one of the things that I experienced was an encounter with God’s name in the original Aleppo Codex, and that was in the book of Ezekiel. I was sitting there side by side, on that fateful day, and people can go to Open Door Series to hear about it, a day that changed my life, a day that changed the world. And there, side by side, there was the printed text in the Aleppo Codex and I’m looking along, and it has the missing vowel that I talk about. And then all of a sudden, I found the vowel wasn’t missing, and that was in Ezekiel.

Keith: Do you remember what verse it was?

Nehemia: Not off the top of my head.

Keith: That’s okay. Well, I know my verse, Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 3.

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: So let’s go to Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 15. Can I start there?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: And it’s interesting...

Nehemia: I believe it was actually the verse where it says, “Baruch kvod Yehovah mimekomo.” That was the verse, which I couldn’t tell you the chapter and verse number for, because I don’t memorize those things, usually. But I can look it up in my little program. It was Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 12.

Keith: There it is!

Nehemia: People can look there, and they’ll see the Yehovah with the full vowels.

Keith: With the full vowels. If they’re looking at the actual manuscript, they will see that.

Nehemia: Yes, they will. And you can actually see that online today, which is really cool. I’m actually on the website right now, while Keith is talking.

Keith: You hear those clicking, click, click, click? That’s Nehemia looking at the manuscript. Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 15, “Now the word of the Yehovah came, the word of LORD came again to me saying…” Now, it says “came again,” in the phrase itself it just says, “And the word of the LORD came to him.” But one of the reasons I think for this, and we can check a little bit of the context, is that you’ll have a section, and we’ve talked about this before in Isaiah, or we talked in other prophets, where there’ll be a section, “And the word of Yehovah came.” And then there’ll be this information, “and then the word came.” And so right before this…

Nehemia: So yours says it “again”?

Keith: Yes, it says “again.”

Nehemia: It doesn’t say “again.” I don’t accept that. Meaning, there are places where it actually says “again.” And I guess what they’re doing is they’re interpreting the word “va,” which is “and” in Hebrew, the Hebrew vav. But like in the JPS, it says, “The word of the LORD came to me.” There’s no “and.” There’s no “also” or “again.” Literally it says, “And the word of Yehovah was to me saying,” is what it says, literally. And I guess what they’re trying to do is tie it into verses 1 to 14, which is an open door for us to discuss 1 to 14 for the next hour. No?

Keith: No, we can’t do that. Okay. All right.

So now this next verse, Nehemia, is something that even if you weren’t really familiar with the actual verse in detail, there’d been many groups of people who have used this verse and come up with interpretations of it. I guess I want to do something, if it’s all right with you, I kind of want to let the verse speak.

Nehemia: Okay. Sure.

Keith: Meaning, I don’t want to run from it. I want to lean into it, like I like to say. But I want to let the verse speak, because there’s a really important verse in this section that does exactly what we want to have happen, and that’s to understand Scripture and its language, history, and its context. 37:16, “And you, son of man,” now, right over there, I want to stop and say, “son of man.” Nehemia, when you hear the words “son of man,” what’s your thought? What’s the thing that comes to mind?

Nehemia: So what comes to me is that’s just Hebrew for human being.

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: That’s what it means to me. And when God is speaking to him… For example, the JPS translates, it’s literally, “Ben Adam.” Ben is son, and Adam is Adam, “son of Adam” is literally what it says. In the JPS it translates it as, “O mortal.” Meaning, “O mortal one,” because God is this infinite one, He’s not a son of Adam. He’s the creator of Adam. And he’s speaking to a human being, he calls him son of Adam. That’s just what it means to me.

Keith: And that’s why I wanted to bring this up, is just the idea what the phrase says. It says, “son of Adam,” “son of man.” “Take for yourself,” and you stop me as I’m going here, because I’m going to read from the NASB. Again, what we have right now is I’ve got my Hebrew Bible open. I’ve got my NIV, I call it my Nearly Inspired Version. But the reason that I like the NIV, honestly, is that when I’m communicating, especially if I’m sharing, preaching a passage, I like to start with where people are - many people in the English language. The NIV does a wonderful job of using the modern English language to communicate. It doesn’t do the best job in terms of being true to what the original text says, in many cases. Many times they do a lot of, what I call, gymnastics with the text. So I’d like to start…

Nehemia: Although I’ve found places where the NIV is more accurate than any other translation.

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: Meaning, no translation is perfect, and if you can find the truth wherever the truth is spoken, and I guess it’s easier for me because I can look in the Hebrew, but there are times when the NIV is the only one that got it right. It’s rare, but it happens.

Keith: It does happen. And that happens in a number of… in fact, in the King James Version sometimes that happens.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: So anyway, we’ve got these books open. We’ve got two computers. And we’ve got this… I don’t know what I call this - rigged? And I have to just stop, Nehemia, say after 11 times, this is really a rigged situation. I’ve got a coffee cup, holding up…

Nehemia: And it’s not even a Starbucks one.

Keith: Let me finish. I’m going to let people know exactly. We’re sitting in a bedroom. We’ve got a table with some foam behind it and another piece of foam, and I’ve got a coffee cup that’s propping up your iPad.

Nehemia: A four-year-old iPad.

Keith: Because my iPad broke. We did an entire session with the Prophet Pearls and found at the end that it didn’t work. So we’ve got this rig. But let me tell you what I love about it - it’s authentic.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: It’s authentic. And actually, I just have to say, Nehemia, after this one, I think, and the next one. After this, who knows where we’re going to be in the world, and it’s going to be a more difficult recording situation. But I will say this - what I like about this, in this verse that we’re going to talk about, is that we can be here together. It says, here it goes. It goes, “And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel,’” and then it says, “his companions.” What does it say in the Hebrew? I have to see what it says…

Nehemia: It says, “chaverav.”

Keith: So how do we open up the show?

Nehemia: Chaverim. Chaverim sheli!

Keith: Chaverim sheli. Chaverim shelanu.

Nehemia: Right.

Keith: So we say, “friends”.

Nehemia: Yes. So chaver is the Hebrew word that means friend, chet, beit, resh. And we’ve mentioned before that it comes from the root that means to be bonded to someone, to be connected to someone, to be in fellowship with someone. And here what was written on the two sticks, on each of the sticks, is “chaverav,” “his friends”. And actually, it has chaver, the word for friend, and “av,” written with a yud in there, yud, vav, which means, “his friends.” And it’s interesting the yud there isn’t pronounced, it’s only written, and visually, when you see it, you know that it represents the plural of the word, “chaver.” In other words, hidden inside this word “chaverav” is “chaveravim.” So it’s chaveravim of his, chaverav. So yes, chet, beit, resh, yud, vav – five letters.

Keith: I wish we could go into some textual discussion, but we’re going to hold off on that because we’ve only got an hour.

Nehemia: About the qere ketiv. Yes, it’s interesting stuff.

Keith: It’s very interesting when you see it. But anyway, it says, “And take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, and his companions.’” Or his friends. So what I like about this section that we’re going to do, is we actually have a little background in terms of what we’ve talked about. We’ve talked about Ephraim. We’ve talked about Joseph. We’ve talked about the issues around Judah and the kingdoms, and we’ve done… now this is our 11th one. So it’s kind of nice that we’re at this, because people, if you’ve been listening to Prophet Pearls, you’ve got some background. And if you listened to the Original Torah Pearls, you’ve got some real background for what’s going to be going on here.

Nehemia: But just to remind people, the first king of Israel was Saul, and then his son, Ish-bosheth, and then David became the king of all of Israel, and his son, Solomon, and then Solomon sinned, and so God ripped the kingdom. There’s this image where Ahijah the Shilonite comes and he stands before him, and he takes this garment and he rips it into 12 pieces. He gives two to the house of Judah, to the House of David, and ten to the house of Israel, and there becomes two kingdoms. This is sometime in the late 10th century BC. And then all the way up until around the year 721 BC, there are two kingdoms. There’s a Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. Mamlechet Israel, Kingdom of Israel, and Mamlechet Yehuda, the Kingdom of Judah.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: And then the Kingdom of Israel was taken as exiles by the Assyrians into what becomes today Iran and Iraq, and roughly that area. And the Kingdom of Judah continues for another 150 years, up until 586 BC, when it’s destroyed by the Babylonians. And then the Judeans, the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, are taken into exile. So we talked before about two waves of exile - that was for Judah. For Israel, we also had two waves of exile. In 732 - and possibly more than two waves - 732 and 721 were the two major ones. So what this is talking about - and let’s read the verse - but it’s talking about the reunification of these two kingdoms.

Keith: So let me read this one verse, and then before we move to the next section, this verse is connected to the one before it. So verses 16 and 17. “Then when you have these sticks, join them for yourself one to another into one stick.”

Nehemia: Oh, boy. There’s so much to talk about here.

Keith: Yes, “that they may become one in your hand.” And so let’s go ahead and jump right into this, Nehemia, because I have a question before we get into some application, if it’s all right?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: It says in 37…

Nehemia: Can I talk about the stick for a second?

Keith: That’s exactly what I want. Yes.

Nehemia: So there’s this image out there, you can find it, and we’re going to use it for this week’s episode. And as I reread the passage, I said, “Well, wait a minute. That’s a beautiful, really powerful image, but it’s not what it says.”

Keith: Well, before… I know you’re going to take the cap off of that. Are you going to…?

Nehemia: I’m going to explain it if you let me talk.

Keith: Okay. Go ahead. You go ahead and talk and do that.

Nehemia: So the image you’ll see all over is they’ll take two sticks and they’ll wrap the sticks around each other. And those are the two sticks united. But that’s not what it’s describing. What it’s describing is there are these two sticks, which really have nothing to do with each other, and he takes them end-to-end and he makes them one stick. He reunites the two broken halves of the kingdom. So that’s about the stick, if you want to say something about that?

Keith: Well, no, I want to ask you… So where does it say in your verse that they stuck them end-to-end? Tell them how it is that you come to the fact that they went end-to-end.

Nehemia: So it says in Hebrew, “vekarav otam echad le’echad,” and he shall bring them close one to another, “lecha le’etz echad,” to be one stick, “vehayu le’achadim beyadcha,” and I’ve got to talk about the word “achadim.”

Keith: That’s what I wanted to say. Absolutely. I’ve got it highlighted. Are you kidding me?

Nehemia: Oh, you do? Okay.

Keith: Yes, one thing I’ve got this highlighted.

Nehemia: So “achadim” is a very rare form, it only appears five times in the Tanakh. It’s the plural of the word “echad.” Now, the Hebrew word “echad” means one.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Now, how can you have a plural of the word “one”? Can you say in English “ones”? I guess you can. You could say, “Give me five ones.” But there you really mean one-dollar bills, right?

Keith: Right.

Nehemia: You can write five ones on a piece of paper, but there you mean this symbol that represents the number one. Here, it’s not in that sense “one”. It’s saying, “They shall be achadim in your hand.” And what does achadim mean here? It actually means united. The plural form of echad is united. We have another verse that has this exact phrase.

Keith: This is where things get good now.

Nehemia: Or the word with the same meaning is in Genesis chapter 11 verse 1, and this is just before the Tower of Babel. It says, “In the entire land was safah echat,” one lip, literally, one language, one lip, “udvarim achadim.” And you could translate that literally as – actually, you can’t translate it literally. In the literal translation, it would be, “ones,” meaning the plural of one words, or matters, because davar means a word but also matters. So really, the correct translation is “united matters”. Meaning, they were of one language and united matters; they had one agenda.

Keith: I love it. And Nehemia, if it’s okay, I want to just let people know, those are the verses Genesis 29:20 in English, in the NASB, “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.” So show us how “but for a few days,” and, “because of his love for her” - how that is the same word, “achadim.” In other words, how did they come with “for a few days”?

Nehemia: So literally what it says is “yamim achadim,” days ones.

Keith: Yes, exactly.

Nehemia: It seemed like a series of single days. And then that phrase appears three times in the Tanakh. One is in Daniel, and I don’t know where the other is.

Keith: Yes. I want to read Daniel 11:20, while I have a chance to do this because whenever… It’s really interesting – Nehemia and I don’t discuss ahead of time what we’re going to talk about. We don’t say, “Now, here’s the production meeting on how we’re going to do this.” Instead, what we do is we both go and we study the verses, the passage. Now, I tend to start…

Nehemia: No, the production meeting is where we flip the coffee cup to hold up the iPad.

Keith: Yes, we’re actually flipping the coffee cup to hold up the old iPad! But the thing is that what we do is we study ourselves and then we come together. And so here’s an example where we’re both reading and we find this word that for me it jumped off the page.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Certainly, it jumped off the page for you. Daniel 11:20, so this is the other place where this happens. “Then in his place one will arise who will send an oppressor through the jewel of his kingdom; yet within a few days he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.” Where is it…?

Nehemia: So, again, that’s the exact same phrase, it appears three times, “yamim achadim,” and they translated it as “a few.” And that’s not wrong. Meaning, the word achadim in our verse in Ezekiel and in Genesis 11:1 has a different meaning than it does in the phrase, “yamim achadim,” a few days, a series of single days.

Here, achadim means united, which I find really interesting, and I know this is going to be controversial for some people, but there’s the famous verse where it says, “Shema Israel Yehovah Eloheinu Yehovah echad,” “Hear O Israel, Yehovah is our God, Yehovah is One.” And some people want to say “one” is this compound unity, but actually, Hebrew had a really clear way to express that. It really could have said, “Hear O Israel, Yehovah Eloheinu, Yehovah is our God, Yehovah achadim, Yehovah is united.” It could have said that. But echad in the sense it uses there, really just means one.

Keith: I’ll tell you what, that’s powerful. That’s good grammatical information. And that’s, again, what I love about digging through the Scripture and getting a chance to work with the original language, and looking what the English versions do. I want to stop for a second real quick…

Nehemia: Yes. So imagine that. Now, let’s go back to our stick. So it’s achadim, it’s two sticks that are united as one. Meaning if it would have said “echad,” that would’ve meant the two sticks are really one and indivisible, but they’re not indivisible. They were divided. Now they’re reunited as achadim, one.

Keith: You know it’s interesting, Nehemia, when we went out on tour together and we were asking people to be our Prophet Pearls Partners, and we had some people that stood up and said absolutely they would do that, and as a result of that, we have some of our episodes that are actually sponsored by people. This one actually is sponsored by a very good friend of ours - Tina Brown.

Nehemia: Hey, Tina. Shalom. Hey, Sven.

Keith: Shalom. Yes. This is Tina’s. This is not Sven’s. Sven will be later. This is just for Tina. And so Tina, when we’re taping this, actually, she’s been in a difficult situation. Both her father and her mother have been sick. And so, we’ve been praying for her.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: She hasn’t gotten a chance to chime in on this verse. But I know it is a very important passage to her, and I’ve actually talked to her about it before. I don’t want to ruin that, Tina, what I would challenge you to do, we want to say thank you to you…

Nehemia: Todah rabah.

Keith: …for being our Prophet Pearls Partner. I want to challenge you, Tina, if you’d be willing to take that gift that you have and do some writing, and bring comments on some of the things that you wanted us to discuss. We were not able to discuss this ahead of time. She’s been in a very difficult situation. But the good news, we have been praying for her and her family, that her father is not as bad as they thought, and he’s doing better, and hopefully, her mother by now, by the time you hear this, will also be doing well. So we want to thank her for being a Prophet Pearls Partner.

And for all of you, we want to challenge you to write and go to nehemiaswall.com, bfainternational.com, to the Prophet Pearls section and to post your comments and your questions. Now, Nehemia, for the fun part.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: “Then join them for yourselves one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.” I want to just say something. When we first started interacting with different people, sometimes people would come up to me and say, “So Keith,” and I’m not trying to be funny right now, but they would say, “You and Nehemia - Nehemia is the one stick and you’re the other stick.” Now, I had no idea what they were talking about.

Nehemia: I knew what they were talking about.

Keith: I had no idea. No, listen, I’m just telling you. I had no idea what they were talking about. You said you knew what they were talking about. So, can we just take a minute to give a little bit, would you be willing to give a little context about maybe why they might think that that would be the case?

Nehemia: Yes. So there’s this idea, and can we talk about the elephant in the room? You’re not sure?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Now that I said it I guess we’re going to. So here, this passage is talking about the reunification of the two tribes. And if you weren’t sure, you could read on…

Keith: That’s what we’re going to get to because he tells us exactly what it’s about.

Nehemia: He tells us what it means, right. But then the question is, okay, so we had the Kingdom of Judah and they went into exile. And today, we have this group of people called Jews, which are understood to be from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, the Kingdom of Judah. For example in the Book of Esther, Mordechai, who is one of the main characters, Mordecai in English, he’s called hayehudi, the Jew, even though he’s from the tribe of Benjamin. What that means is that everybody who was from that Kingdom of Judah was called a Jew.

Well, what about the people who are from the tribe of Israel? Where are they? What happened to them? And this is a question that’s gone back thousands of years; where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Here we have a prophecy about the reunification of the Lost Tribes, and I don’t know if we’re going to get into this now, or shall we…?

Keith: Yes, we’ll wait.

Nehemia: So we’ve got to read the verses then let’s talk about where are the Ten Lost Tribes.

Keith: Yes, okay.

Nehemia: Who is Israel today? And yes, we need to talk about that.

Keith: Okay. So let’s just read.

Nehemia: Let’s read a few more verses.

Keith: We’re not going to talk about the elephant in the room right now. “When the sons of your people speak to you saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’” So now, again, what is meant by these two sticks that become one stick?

Nehemia: Right. And I love this. This is one of the things that you see throughout the prophets. It’s what some people today call a witnessing tool.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: It’s like Jeremiah going around with the yoke on his neck, and they’re like, “What on earth is this guy, he has an ox yoke on his neck?”

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: And it’s the yoke that will be the kingdom of Babylon. The other prophet goes and breaks it; he puts another yoke on. So he’s walking around with this witnessing tool. He’s walking around with these sticks, and they have Hebrew words written on them, and they may not even look like they’re from the same tree, but they’re miraculously united as one stick. How could that even be? And so people start asking, “What do you have there? What are we seeing here?” And I love it. Literally, it says… here, where is this? It says, “It will be in your hand before their eyes.” So it’s before their eyes now, and they’re asking what is this? So let’s read the answer.

Keith: So in 19, can I say this?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: “Thus says Adonai Yehovah.” “Thus says the Lord GOD,” it says in English. “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his friends, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick.” And then, Nehemia, the phrase that just jumped off the page, for me, is there seems to be a switching of hands. So the one is in the hand of Ephraim. And it says, “and I will put them with it.” And he says, “and they will be one in My hand.” In other words, there’s a shift. Now it isn’t that one’s got the stick over here and one’s got the stick over there. But rather, Yehovah himself says, “I will make them one in My hand.”

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: So when I look at that, I say to myself, “That sounds pretty exciting.” And then what does that actually mean?

Nehemia: So it’s clear what it means. How does it apply is the question.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: Yes, clearly, it refers to there’s a Kingdom of Israel; there’s a Kingdom of Judah. He’s speaking at a time when they’ve gone into exile, or they’re going into exile. And he’s saying, “In the future when the kingdom is re-established, there won’t be two kingdoms, they’ll be one kingdom, and it will be one in Yehovah’s hand.”

Keith: Now, if it’s okay, this is the verse that I get excited about.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: The verse is, “Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.’” I want to put you on the spot.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Because we actually traveled to Israel, I don’t know how many times together, Nehemia. I’ve been there with you at least, I don’t know, four or five times. One of the first times that I was with you, your eyes would well up when you would talk about actually seeing prophecy come to pass. Not with you, but you actually told a story about Ethiopians that came to Israel.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Would you be willing to tell the story? Because then I have something… I want to follow up with that.

Nehemia: Yes. Sure. So it was 1991, and I was what 18 years old and I was a volunteer on a kibbutz. I was working out in the fields…

Keith: Word of the kibbutz. Okay. This is excellent.

Nehemia: Right, where he says, “Gather, I will kibbutz them.” So I was on a kibbutz, and I was working in the fields as a farmer. I was on my little red Fiat tractor, and most of what I did had to do with irrigation, growing various crops, field crops. And all of a sudden, I see a really strange sight for Israel. In Texas, this isn’t so strange, but in Israel is very strange. I see a truck coming down the road, a flatbed truck, and it’s carrying a mobile home on the back of it. And, okay, I’ve never seen that in Israel before. That’s odd. All right. Whatever, somebody’s going to be living in a mobile home. Then about five minutes later, there’s a second one; another five minutes, a third one. And then there’s a caravan of the trucks. There must have been dozens of these mobile homes coming down the highway in the middle of nowhere in northern Israel. There’s not even a city anywhere nearby. There’s a city of 12,000 people, that’s the great metropolis nearby. What are all these…? This is a very strange site. I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t know that anybody had ever seen anything like this.

And then that night, I’m listening to the news and they announce that the Soviet Union had just fallen. I’m going to well up now again. And for years there had been these Jews in Ethiopia who wanted to come to Israel. Many of them in the ‘80s walked through Sudan, and many of them died on the way. They walked all the way to Sudan, to where they were then brought to Israel secretly, because the Sudanese hate Jews. But they weren’t able to get all of them out, because not everybody can get to Sudan. And so as soon as the communist government fell in Ethiopia, Israel swooshed in really quickly and got thousands of Jews that they took out of Ethiopia. Jews who had been there for thousands of years. Jews who, can I say this? Don’t look that much like me, they look more like you. Jews who had been in Ethiopia at least since the time of the Second Temple, I can prove that through history, but probably maybe even before that. Maybe these were Jews who - and this is actually one of the theories out there - that these were Jews who went into exile after the Temple was destroyed in 586, there was a small remnant of the poorest of the land, and they assassinated the Babylonian governor, and then they fled to Egypt. We’re told about this in the book of Jeremiah. They took Jeremiah with them, and he died in Egypt, apparently. And they may have migrated… we know they migrated down the Nile, or up the Nile as it were, because there were Jews in a place called Elephantine in southern Egypt, and eventually, they made it to Ethiopia.

But when I saw that, I’m like, “This is amazing.” Right in front of me, I’m seeing a fulfillment of this prophecy in this verse and other verses of Yehovah gathering in the dispersed of Israel from the four corners of the earth, as remote a place, from where I come from, is Ethiopia. I had heard, yes, there was this thing called Ethiopian Jews. I had never in my life met an Ethiopian Jew in 1991. And here are thousands of them just coming off the airplanes. And they didn’t know how long they would have to do this. They didn’t know if it would be a few days before another government rose up and kept these Jews as sort of like a bargaining chip. And so Israel rushed in and gathered as many of them as they could and got out. And today, you walk all over Israel and you’ll see Ethiopian Jews everywhere. They’re just a part of the landscape now.

Keith: It’s something. Here we are, Nehemia. This was in 1990, Operation Solomon, I think they called.

Nehemia: Yes, ‘91.

Keith: Yes. Ways back in 1991, but since there’ve been many other groups that have come. And I just got something right now, we’re actually recording a little bit in advance, but I just got this. It says that Fifty Bnei Menashe Make Aliyah from India to Israel.

Nehemia: Wow.

Keith: “Fifty Bnei Menashe immigrants made Aliyah from India to Israel on Tuesday, bringing the total number of community members to make Aliyah in 2014,” now, we’re at the end of 2014, “to 500 - the most ever. Another 200 are slated to arrive by the end of November.” Which means by the time you’re listening to this, there’ll be 700. “The Bnei Menashe are descendants of the tribe of Menashe (or Manasseh), one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel which were exiled by the Assyrian empire after the death of King Solomon more than 2,700 years ago. The immigrants were brought by,” is it Shavei Israel?

Nehemia: Shavei Israel. They’re the same people I met in Kaifeng in China.

Keith: Awesome. Chairman Michael Freund thanked the Israeli government for bringing Bnei Menashe home, calling the mass aliyah a “modern-day miracle. At a time such as this, when the Jewish state finds itself under increasing pressure from the international community, it is comforting to see that God continues to gather His flock, bringing back those who were once deemed to be lost,” he says. “There are still another 7,000 Bnei Menashe in India waiting to come, and I am determined to do everything I can to bring them here.” And then he goes on to say, “Pray according to Scripture for all the Bnei Menashe in India who long to come home to Israel. ‘I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile.’” Jeremiah 30:10. So many different verses that relate to what we’re talking about right here - that there are people in different parts of the world that have been dispersed that are being gathered, they’re being brought back. And so this is in our present time.

Nehemia: I think these are both amazing things - what happened with the Bnei Menashe and what happened with the Ethiopian Jews, who, by the way, in their language, and in their culture, what they’re called is Beit Ha’Israel, the House of Israel. But there is a fundamental difference. They’re both amazing miracles and fulfillment of prophecy. Absolutely. But the difference is that the Bnei Menashe from India really were a lost tribe. Meaning, if you would’ve asked them a hundred years ago, “Are you… are you Israelites?” They probably would’ve said, “What’s that?” And then you would have said, “Well, why do you circumcise your sons?” “We don’t know. We just always did that.” “Why do you not eat pig?” “We don’t know. We always just didn’t do that.” Whereas the Jews of Ethiopia, the Beit Ha’Israel, the House of Israel from Ethiopia, they’ve always known that they’re Israelites. Meaning, they were never lost. And in fact, there’s communications between them and Jews in other parts of the world - very sparse, it wasn’t a lot -but there have been communications with them going back, you can document it, clearly 500 years.

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: And if you’d asked the Bnei Menashe, the people in India, 100 years ago, “Can we see your copies of the Torah?” They would have said, “What’s the Torah?” Or certainly 500 years ago. Whereas the Ethiopian Jews could have said, “Here’s our Torah. It’s been translated into our language Ge’ez. And here are some of the other documents that you guys won’t discover until you discover the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Which is pretty cool in itself.

Keith: It’s amazing.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Well, what I like about it, though, is this just the idea that these people from different parts of the world…

Nehemia: Yes. So isn’t that amazing? There are these two separate phenomena, which are both miraculous. One is there’s the dispersed of Israel who’ve always known they’re Israel, who are being gathered in by Yehovah, and that’s a miracle and fulfillment of prophecy. And there are also these people who didn’t know they were Israelites, whose identity has been lost, and they’re being gathered in too. And in addition, I want to say... well, let’s talk about this. Now, let’s get to the elephant in the room. Can we do that?

Keith: Okay. Go ahead.

Nehemia: Yes. So the elephant in the room is there’s this idea out there… and a few years ago, I was talking to this guy in what’s called the Hebrew Roots Movement. I’m a Karaite Jew. I’m not part of the Hebrew Roots Movement. But I asked him in your movement, in the Hebrew Roots Movement, what’s the biggest controversy there is? And I was sure he was going to tell me the calendar or the pronunciation of the name of God. And he said, “No, the number one controversy in my community is what’s called the Two-House Theology.”

Keith: That has to do with this, Nehemia?

Nehemia: It has to do with that?

Keith: This verse, the two houses.

Nehemia: Oh, it’s directly from this verse. It’s all about this verse. And I said, “What on earth is the Two-House Theology?” And basically, it’s this idea that people who come to the Torah who aren’t of Jewish origins, who, as you say, “Have shaken the family tree and no Jew fell out.” They say, “I’m from the Ten Lost Tribes.” Now, this was an idea going back a few hundred years with the British Israelites. What makes this different than the British Israelites is the British Israelites said we are ethnically, genetically, directly descended from the ten tribes and we’re more Israelites than the Jews - you know, they were Christians - because the Jews rejected Jesus and we’re the true Israelites. That’s what the British Israelites said.

The Two-House Theology is a little different. What they say, as I understand it and the way it was explained to me, is, “I’ve been brought into this covenant with God, and it may be because my ancestors were from the Ten Lost Tribes.” And they say it very carefully like that, and I give them credit for that - they’re not going to dogmatically say, “I can now go take a DNA test and show that my bones connect to the bones of someone found in a tomb in Israel 3,000 years ago.” That’s not what they’re saying, as I understand it, again.

As I understand it, what they’re saying is that there’s something they can’t explain which draws them to the Torah; it draws them to the Tanakh, even though they’re not Jewish. And they identify themselves as being from these ten tribes. Some of them will say, “Well, maybe I’m not physically from the ten tribes, but I’m spiritually now joined into the ten tribes.” What I think is really cool, to me, in the verse, is – and it was the Word of the Week, but we also glazed over it. It’s in verse 16, where it says, for both Judah and Israel, there’s going to be chaverav, his companions, his friends, those who are bonded to him.

Keith: Actually, we didn’t make that Word of the Week yet, Nehemia.

Nehemia: Well, we did, officially.

Keith: You didn’t explain. You’ve got to tell them what it is.

Nehemia: No, I did. “Chaver” is “his friend”. It also means someone who’s bonded to you, who’s joined to you, it can be, as well. We have the phrase “chavur,” which is people who are bonded together.

Keith: Tell them the letters.

Nehemia: Chet, beit, resh is the root, and yud, vav is the suffix. Let me just give you an example of that word, of that root. So, Genesis 14:3, it’s speaking about the kingdoms that came to Babylon. It says, “All the latter joined forces at the Valley of Siddim,” now the Dead Sea. I’ll read it in the King James so people are more familiar with it, “All these were joined together,” and the word is chavru, they became chaverim. “they joined together in the Valley of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea.” So these are people who weren’t originally together, but did come together.

And another example - and this seems like almost a trivial example - but it’s talking about the curtains in the Tabernacle. It says, “The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another.” And coupled isn’t what it says. It says “chovrot,” “they will be joined”. So these curtains weren’t originally together, and they came together, and they were joined together. And that’s where I get excited. Where I get excited, I read this verse, and I read about how there are the tribes, there’s Judah, and there’s Joseph or Israel, and there are his companions.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: There are these people who have joined to both Judah and to Israel, and they’ve come together, and those will be united. Not just Judah and Israel, but Judah and Israel together with all of those who have joined to them, who have been united with them, all their chaverim, all their friends, all those who have joined to them. That’s really powerful. Wow.

So you don’t have to say, “Now I’ve got to trace the lineage directly back through the Saxons to Isaac,” which is one of the things that British Israelites say. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I can prove this - that someone’s been gathered into the Torah. That’s a fact. You don’t have to go speculate in history about that. I think that’s a really powerful thing.

And I want to throw out some credit to my friend, Jason. He wrote to me and asked me about the Ten Lost Tribes, and he asked which tribes have been identified. And in that context, I want to bring a couple of historical sources, which aren’t from the Bible. And one of them is from Josephus, the book of Antiquities of the Jews. Josephus was a Jewish historian in the first century, and it’s interesting to see how he describes what we call the Jews of today.

Before I bring that, I want to bring a really interesting piece of information, which is if you asked Jews, I don’t know, a thousand years ago, “Are you Jewish?” They might say, “Yes, I’m from the Kingdom of Judah or the tribe of Judah.” Or they’d probably tell you, “I don’t know what tribe I’m from.” On my mother’s side, my family, I have shared this before, traces themselves back to King David. On my father’s side, I’ve got no idea what tribe I’m from, and it’s the father’s side that counts. But when you go into the synagogue and we read from the Torah portion, like we did in the Original Torah Pearls, but they read that publicly in the synagogue, they’ll have the first three people to come and read from the Torah, or to get honored with reading - if they don’t know how to read, then someone else will read for them - the first one is a Kohen. It has to be a Kohen. If there’s a Kohen in the audience, he goes first, that’s from the line of Aaron. The second one is always a Levi, from the tribe of Levi. The third one, then, isn’t called Judah. He’s called Israel, and Israel in Jewish literature, what we call Jewish literature, Jews are referred to as Israel. Now that’s not to say that they’re from the ten tribes and the two tribes. We don’t know that.

But let’s read what Josephus says in Antiquities book 11 section 133, or 5:2 in the older numbering. He says, let’s see, he’s talking about them coming to Babylon… “But then the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country,” in Babylon, “wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans.” Which means the Roman parts of the empire that we call today Asia and Europe, or even in his terms Asia and Europe, “while the ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now and are an immense multitude and not to be estimated by numbers.”

So in his day, in the days of Josephus, the Ten Lost Tribes weren’t lost. They knew that the people in Persia, the Jews of Persia beyond the Euphrates River, and in what today is parts of Iraq as well, they were from the ten tribes. So we speak today about the ten tribes. And that’s in the 1st century, imagine that. Josephus knows that the ten tribes are still where they were sent in Iraq and Iran and other countries around there to this very day, to his day.

Now, this is a story from the second century, an account. A hundred years later, less than a hundred years later even, the rabbis are talking about the ten tribes, and it’s a debate between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Akiva, as you may recall, was killed during the Hadrianic persecutions, sometime before the year 138. It says, “The ten tribes, they are not going to return in the future.” We’ve got to stop about that. Imagine that, “The ten tribes they are not going to return in the future, as it is written.” And he quotes a verse from Deuteronomy 29:27, where it says, “Yehovah uprooted them from their soil in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as is still the case.” But in Hebrew, it literally says, “as this day.”

Keith: As this day.

Nehemia: “Just as the day goes and does not return, so too, they should go and do not return.” Which doesn’t make sense to me, but that’s rabbinical logic. Meaning, they take that word “day,” and they make that the basis of the theology. The ten tribes won’t return because days go and they don’t return, so the people won’t go and return. These are the words of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Eliezer says, “‘As this day,’ means ‘just as the day grows dark and then grows light, so too, the ten tribes who are in darkness, in the future light will be shed on them.’”

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: And my prayer is that… and actually, it’s not just a prayer. I pray that Yehovah will shed His light on all twelve tribes, but I’m seeing it happening, and that’s what excites me. That’s why I go to China and I have this burning urge to get back into ministry - because I get to go and encounter these people all over the world who, the light is being shed on them, and out of nowhere, they say, “Wait a minute, I’m supposed to be connected to this God of Israel. I love Israel. I love the people of Israel. I love the Jews. And I love God’s covenant; His Torah.” I met people in China like that, which amazed me.

Keith: Well, I tell you what we’re going to do. We’re actually going to talk about ministry, but we’re going to wait just a little bit because of the time that we’re doing this actual episode.

Nehemia: Yes. Okay.

Keith: It says, I’m going to… and this is the part…

Nehemia: So can we wrap up what I just was talking about? Which is that we’ve got these ten tribes, and we’ve got the two tribes. I can’t tell you which of the 12 tribes I’m from. The common consensus says, “Okay, you’re from the tribe of Judah”. It could be. It’s very possible. I know on my mother’s side that’s definitely true. On my father’s side, I have no idea. But what excites me is that Yehovah is gathering these people, and He’s gathering back their friends, and those who are their companions, and those who are joined to them. And I don’t think we need to get involved in the whole Two-House controversy, that’s really beyond the scope of what we’re doing. But the prophecies are really powerful, and I want to read one more prophecy that talks about this, which is Hoshea chapter 2. I could talk about this for hours.

Keith: You’ve already been going long enough.

Nehemia: No, no. Hoshea 2:2, I just want to read that one. I’m actually going to save that for when we get to David. So I’m going to hold off. Remind me.

Keith: All right. I will be sure not to…

Nehemia: And if I forget, Hoshea chapter 2 verse 2.

Keith: But the part that I guess…

Nehemia: Which is, sorry, 1:11 in the English; it’s 2:2 in the Hebrew.

Keith: …makes some politicians unhappy.

Nehemia: Oh, what’s that?

Keith: Is 37:22, and He says, “And I will make them one nation wherever they live.” No, it says, “And I will make them one nation in the land,” and what land is He speaking about? Is He speaking about the earth or is he speaking about the land, meaning the land of Israel and its boundaries and what was given to the people of Israel? And when you hear that, that’s where I guess the controversy comes in, because many of the politicians will say, “Well, may it never be; we can’t have all those people coming into the Land of Israel because some of it, they can’t be, and they can’t be going…”

Nehemia: Did you read what it actually said?

Keith: No, I’m just giving you my thing here.

Nehemia: Okay. Yes.

Keith: So when you actually take a look at this and you say, “So what does it mean where it says, ‘I will make them one nation in the land,’” and it says…?

Nehemia: Read the next two words in Hebrew.

Keith: Yes. I’m getting to it, Nehemia.

Nehemia: Beseder!

Keith: Will you read the words?

Nehemia: Okay. It says, “Ve’asiti otam legoy echad ba’aretz,” and I will make them one nation in the land, “beharei Israel,” in the mountains of Israel.

Keith: Yes, yes, yes.

Nehemia: And that’s what I think is… these are really controversial words, you’re right, in politics today, because what many politicians in the world want Israel to do, many want Israel to cease to exist. But those who are even willing for Israel to exist will say, “Okay, but you’ve got to go to the so-called pre-1967 border.” And did you know that the pre-1967 border doesn’t include the mountains of Israel? The pre-1967 border is the coastal plain, and it is the Negev desert, and it is the Galilee. But it doesn’t include the heart of Israel; the very heart of Israel is what we call Judea and Samaria. We call them that today. But those are really the central mountain range that runs… That’s the heart of Israel. Everything else is just the slopes going down from Israel. The prophecy here is about the mountains of Israel, very specific. And may it be soon. It’s going to be. That’s a fact.

Keith: Yes. Amen. And that’s what, I guess, when I was reading this verse, I liked about it, it says, “One nation in the land,” and then, “on the mountains of Israel.” You look at the geography of Israel and you just think, “Wow”. I mean that’s one of the beautiful things about going to the Land of Israel, actually physically being there and being able to open up your Bible and to read and to see with your own two eyes, and to experience and walk the length and the breadth of the land. I mean, it’s really an amazing experience, and it’s something that, again, brings Scripture to life. Like you say, you’re sitting there and you’re watching these trucks come by, and you’re in the land and you’re watching these trucks, you can’t deny there’s something happening, He’s gathering people. It has to be prophetic.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: I mean to know that we’re actually addressing verses and we’re addressing passages that related to then, yesterday, and today, and now this verse is even speaking of tomorrow…

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: …because what He’s going to do is greater than now. It’s more than just a thousand people from India, or however many people from Ethiopia. Literally, bringing the masses together into one land. And that means that the land is going to be - there’s not going to be any argument. For it says here, “And one king will be king for all of them.” There’s not going to be any more…

Nehemia: Two kings, right.

Keith: Yes. “And they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms.” And then further is to speak about what will happen. “They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned,” and then this is exciting, “and will cleanse them.” And then the phrase at the end that probably - I don’t know – that I just have to read, and it makes me really slow down so slow that I can’t even get off…

Nehemia: You can’t even speak.

Keith: Can’t even speak about it. It says, “Ve’ani eheye,” “I will be for them. I shall be to them. I will be their God, their Elohim.” And when I read that, I immediately go back and I think about when He’s speaking to Moses in Exodus 3, “I will be.” And again, the verse… It’s really interesting, Nehemia, because when I read these kinds of verses and I see these kinds of phrases, they continually bring me back that there’s a consistent message that He speaks. There’s a specific and consistent message that Yehovah brings, which He says, “I shall be.” “I shall be their God.” Right now, there can be confusion, and wherever these lost tribes are, wherever they’re now dwelling, many of them may be worshipping in areas that you just think, “What are they doing? How could they get so confused?” But what’s exciting about the verse is He says, “I’m going to do this. I’m going to cleanse them. They’re going to be My people.” Now, this is why my little soapbox that I want to talk about for a second...

Nehemia: Yes. Well, no, that’s…

Keith: Let me just talk about this, because one of the struggles that I’ve really had, we’re at the end of the year, and I’ve been vexed, Nehemia, for some time. I’ve been vexed for the last couple of years, when I see what I call the unwarranted attack on people that are in a process.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: And specifically, I want to talk about the attack on people that are both in the Messianic and Christian movement. So many people, you know, they get a little bit of information, or maybe they get a lot of information, and I don’t want to be negative about it, but I just feel like there’s this, you know, “I’ve now come into the truth, and these people aren’t in the truth, and therefore I can beat them over the head constantly about everything that they’re not.”

Nehemia: With that united stick.

Keith: Yes. Now I can beat them over the head constantly about what they’re not. I read a verse like this, and I think, “Wow, so you mean to say there are people that are the lost tribes, that are doing detestable things, that they’re in the midst of transgression, they’re in the midst of sin. And God says, Yehovah says, Elohim says, ‘I’m going to deliver them from all of their dwelling places in which they have sinned and cleanse them. And I’m going to be their God. They’re going to be my people.’”

So the thing that you’ve done that’s been interesting, at least I’ve heard this over the last 10 sessions or so, you talk about how people are also in a process that even in the Torah there are examples where it’s not by the letter of the law that they’re even doing… that’s a weighted phrase. But that God has this ability to meet, whether it’s the shepherd Amos, or Solomon at the high place, that God is doing this drawing. He’s the one that’s doing the drawing.

And where my struggle is, is what I call the beating up over the head of people who, like myself, had no idea what all this was about. God had to awaken me. My heart was awakened; my eyes were awakened. And now I’m a different person. But I don’t say to myself, “Now, let me beat everyone else over the head.” I want to give those people the invitation to be in a process themselves and to know He’s a pretty big God. Now, He has a Torah. It’s His Torah. It’s real, His statutes, His judgments, His commandments. I believe in them. I live by them as I am able. But there is a process that people are in that I just have to believe that God, as we read verses like this, is saying, “That’s ultimately what’s going to happen; they’re in transgression, but I’m bringing them out.”

Nehemia: We talked last week about Solomon, but I just want to revisit that. That he goes up to this high place, which is a forbidden place to worship, and he brings sacrifices, which is a sin, but his heart is in the right place, and it’s out of his love for Yehovah. And Yehovah says, “I’m going to go meet him there, and I’m going to speak to him in a dream. And then I’m going to draw him to Jerusalem.” And that’s the next place he goes after the dream. And then he brings sacrifices to the place he’s supposed to be bringing them. And what an amazing picture. I mean, it’s my prayer for myself, that Yehovah, if there’s anything that I’m in error, that You reveal it to me. That I’m doing the best I can out of the love in my heart. And you’re right, what I don’t want to do is take that stick. We united the stick, and now we’ve got the stick, and now we’ve got the truth, and now we’re going to beat everybody else over the head with it, because we’ve got the truth and you don’t. That’s not what it’s about.

Keith: What’s interesting about it, in verse 24, we have to talk about it. He says, “My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and they will keep My statutes and they will guard them and observe them.” So ultimately, when we get to that place there’s not going to be any discussion.

Nehemia: Right.

Keith: “Which part of the Torah do we keep; which…?” No, we’re going to have…

Nehemia: It’s going to happen. Yes.

Keith: …the gift to be able to do all that God has called us to, and then we’re going to be in a perfect state. And this process that we’re in now is that there’s a place, and I use the word carefully, there’s a journey that people are on, and as they’re on that journey, we don’t want to stop them by hitting them on the head. Rather, we want to invite them to find out everything we can about that.

Nehemia: Yes. And now, I’ve got to read Hosea chapter… in the Hebrew, it’s chapter 2 verse 2, and I’m going to then skip to 25. In the English chapter, it’s chapter 1 verse 11 and 2:23. And that really is a parallel to what we just read. It says, “And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together,” again, that unification of the two kingdoms, “and appoint for themselves one head; and they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.” And we actually have a Prophet’s Portion, so I won’t go too much into detail about this.

Keith: Good.

Nehemia: But he says, “Then I will sow her for myself in the earth,” and that’s a play on words with the word Jezreel, “and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy. Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’” Does that sound familiar? That’s clearly being echoed in Ezekiel - Hoshea lived earlier. So Ezekiel is clearly echoing the same prophecy about how the people who were scattered, and they’re being brought back, “They will be for me a people and I will be their God.” It’s the same message, the reunification of the two kingdoms. I think now… this is what my ministry is about – it’s about teaching anybody who wants to come to the God of Israel. So I’m going to take this as my Ministry Minute.

Keith: Go ahead.

Nehemia: What I really want to do is invite people to head over to my website, nehemiaswall.com. Keith and I have separate ministries. Mine is Makor Hebrew foundation, my website is nehemiaswall.com. Come over to nehemiaswall.com and join my Support Team. What it does is it allows me to continue my ministry of empowering people with information to defend the Word of God and build their faith. I always go back to the image of Nehemiah, Nechemia, who I’m named after, who was standing on the wall and the people, in one hand, it was defense; in the other hand, it was to build. I don’t want to build your faith. I don’t want to defend you. What I want to do is empower you to do those things, and that’s what I love about Nechemia, the man I’m named after.

So if you join the Support Team, it also gives you access to my Special Support Team Studies. They’re already changing people’s lives. And one of the ones I did recently was based on these experiences I had in Nepal, really it was a life-changing experience. I call it Torah Trekking in the Himalayas. This woman named Judith wrote to me about her reaction to it; she’s part of the Support Team. Thank you, Judith. She says, “Thank you so much, Nehemia, for sharing this. This was really a big eye-opener for me, and I can see how Yehovah is doing just that, opening my eyes in my life. Thank you, again, for being so open and honest.”

And so I really want to encourage people, there are hundreds of hours, and I don’t know how many pages of free information on the website. Please, come over and be involved in that. Listen to the Torah Pearls and the Prophet Pearls. The Original Torah Pearls and the New Prophet Pearls on nehemiaswall.com, but also consider, pray about it, joining the Support Team and getting access to this other information as well, it takes you one step further.

Of course, we now have both podcasts, both mine, and yours, on iTunes. I really want to ask people to please consider giving me a rating or a review, and Keith, as well, giving ratings and reviews. What that does is it allows us to put these podcasts in front of other people’s eyes. What happens is they’ll go and search for something and iTunes, and if there are no ratings or reviews, no one ever gets to see it. So please consider that. Those who are like me, who have now gone over to the dark side of Android, and are no longer iTunes people, you can actually listen to it on Podbay. There’s a website Podbay.fm, which has all of my podcasts, as well.

Keith: Awesome. I’m going to hold off on my minute until the end, just because of the timing of what we’re doing this time of year. So I want us to continue. I don’t want to…

Nehemia: So we’ve got to slow down on this one verse that we just skipped.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And that is, well, there’s so much here, we can talk for hours, but we’re going to try to keep it short. So we read in verse 37:23, what did you have? Read that in your NIV.

Keith: Yes, it says... I read that one, it says, “I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned and will cleanse them.”

Nehemia: Yes, it says, “And I will save them in their settlements,” in the JPS, “I will save them in all their settlements where they sinned,” and you have what now?

Keith: It says here, “I will deliver them from all their dwelling places.”

Nehemia: From all their dwelling places? Okay. So there’s “deliver,” there’s “save,” and “from dwelling places,” “from settlements.” And that was the NIV you read, or NASB?

Keith: Yes, this is NASB.

Nehemia: Oh, now, let’s look at the NIV. The NIV says, “I will save them from all their sinful backsliding.” Is it backsliding or is it settlements? In Hebrew, it’s “moshvoteyhem,” which is “their settlements”. And what the NIV did, is it actually changed the word because they didn’t like that. They said, “Settlements? What settlements?” And I say, “What do you mean settlements? That’s where they were scattered in their exiles.” And so even there in the exile, before you’re gathered into the land, you’re going to be saved over there. But what they change it to “meshuvoteyhem,” which is “their backsliding”. It’s a word we saw in Hosea in that section. So they actually changed the vowels of the word to – and actually, not just the vowels, one of the consonants they change, too, to make it work for their theology.

But what’s really important about this verse, I think, is that this is one of only two passages in the entire Hebrew Bible, in the entire Tanakh, where we have this concept of salvation from sin. And can we talk about that just for a minute?

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: That seems like an important topic to discuss. Everywhere else in the Tanakh, to the best of my knowledge, the word for salvation appears in the Tanakh a total - and I’m not talking about names like Isaiah and Joshua, those have the word salvation in them - but other forms of the word salvation, where it means salvation and it’s not a name is 319 times, not including names. And only two of those refer to salvation from sin, and both of those are in the Book of Ezekiel. In fact, there’s this verse, Ezekiel 37:23, Yehovah talks about, “I will save them from all their habitations in which they sinned.” So they sinned in those habitations; I’m going to save them from that sin.

And the other one is in the previous chapter, I believe, and I’m going to tell you in a second, as soon as my computer decides to share it with me. So the other one is in Ezekiel 34:22 – no, 34:22 is an example of the normal meaning. It says, “I will save My flock, and they will no longer be plundered.” So He’s going to save them from destruction, save them from harm. That’s the normal meaning of salvation in the Tanakh. 36:29, “I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and it will make...” etc. So here there is this… some kind of sin that Israel is plunged into, in Ezekiel 36:29 and 37:23, and God is going to employ salvation to save us from that sin. That’s pretty unique in the Tanakh, and it makes you think – most of the other places where God says, “I am your moshia,” that was our Word of the Week once, “I’m your savior,” He’s talking about from harm and destruction, and here it’s salvation from sin.

Keith: Amen. And may it be that we have that sort of salvation.

Nehemia: Yes, and we’ll all be saved from sin, because we need it. Are you going to talk about David, or are we going to skip past that?

Keith: Yes. Go ahead. I mean we’re over an hour right now, but I don’t want to…

Nehemia: So are you done?

Keith: No, I mean…

Nehemia: Do you have more to say or should I keep going?

Keith: No. You go ahead. I’ll wait.

Nehemia: Okay. So it references David here. It says, “My servant David will be their king,” I love this, “and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow My laws and be careful to keep My decrees.” That’s the NIV translation. So who is this shepherd, and who is this king? So it’s interesting. So here I decided I’m going to look in the Jewish commentaries and see what they say. Because to me, it’s obvious this is referring to the Messiah, who will be from the line of David. And that’s actually one - they bring two opinions in the Jewish commentators. One is it’s the Messiah from the line of David. And the other is they say, “Or perhaps this is a reference to the resurrection of the dead.” In other words, there’s a historical Jewish opinion out there that it could be the Messiah, who is from the line of David, a descendant of David, a king over Israel who brings world peace. And the other option is that it actually is David literally himself who has risen from the dead in the resurrection. I definitely lean towards the former being the Messiah. But yes, I think that’s really interesting.

Keith: Well, I believe also that it’s referring to the Messiah. And when it goes on… if I can read the next verse?

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: Verse 26, “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them.”

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: Man, can you imagine? A covenant of peace, of shalom, and that’s literally the word there. It says, “zeh brit shalom,” “a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them,” and then, which really excites me, “And I going to set,” it says here in the NASB, “My sanctuary in their midst for a little while.” No, “I’m going to set My sanctuary in their midst le’olam.” And we actually talked about that, “forever.” “My dwelling place also...”

Nehemia: What the word in Hebrew for sanctuary?

Keith: Here it is as…

Nehemia: It’s mikdash.

Keith: Mikdash, yes.

Nehemia: Right. And mikdash, that is what we call the Temple. Normally, that’s translated in English as the Temple. So, “I will place My Temple in their midst forever.”

Keith: And it says, “My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God,” There it is again. “And they will…” And whenever God says something will happen, you can go to the bank on that. It’s going to happen. He’s going to be their God, and they’re going to be His people. And then the last verse, which we can still discuss here, “And the nations,” and now not just talking about… “And the nations will know ki ani Yehovah,” that I am Yehovah, “who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”

And I know that this year, for example, over in Israel, this has been a complicated and a difficult and a highly explosive year as regards to this idea of God’s Temple, the place of His Temple, the place where He’s placed His name forever. There have been… I mean, at this point, just today, Nehemia, I was looking at CNN, and they’re talking about the controversy that’s going on, how many people are battling, and all of this. And then I read this verse and I read this section in Ezekiel, and I get really encouraged. Because sometimes, when you see what’s happening in the earth, you get discouraged. I’ve been discouraged when I’ve seen it. But when I look at what it says in the Scriptures, that God is going to place them, and He’s going to multiply them, and He’s going to set His sanctuary in their midst forever. And that’s really, for me, what’s been… at least this last year, it’s been something that I’ve kind of come across, and it’s something that I’ve had to deal with it at a bit of a difficult level. In fact, right now… And let me do this, Nehemia. I want to give you a chance to… I mean, this is a pretty important verse. Is there anything you want to say about this?

Nehemia: Yes. No, I mean I think I said it. I mean, again, this is echoing Hosea chapter 1:11 and 2:23 in the English, and it’s really powerful. This is really a hope, and what really excites me is that I see this process beginning. I see the process going on, and it’s happening, and there’s a gathering of the exiles. And there are other people, these friends, that are coming in. The gathering of the two tribes and the ten tribes, gradually, and the friends who are joining themselves to both of those. I’m excited about this. Like, I can see the stick beginning to form before me.

Keith: The stick’s forming. Well, I want to take a chance for my Ministry Minute at the end, and the reason I wanted to wait until the end is because of the date. We’re actually at the end of December. There are three days until the end of the year. There are a lot of people who wait until the end of the year. They make their tax-deductible donations at the end of the year. There are some people who don’t care about that at all, but for those that are waiting, I want to throw this out - that this year has been an amazing year at BFA.

In fact, right now, if you have not gotten a chance to see it, this is by faith, because it’s – what’s the date? We’re doing this in November. I’m going to speak “prophetically.” I’m going to speak into the future that this is going to be done. There’s a special that we did on Hanukkah, and it’s called, the Historical Hanukkah. I don’t even know the title of this. I’m actually in the middle of writing it right now. But by the time you listen to this, you’re going to be able to go to BFA International, by faith I say this, you’re going to be able to click and watch an amazing episode on the Historical Hanukkah. And that came as a result of what’s happened throughout this entire year. Actually, going to the Land of Israel and seeing the Historical Hanukkah through the eyes of two people, one who grew up Jewish, one who grew up Christian. And rather than the one-man, one camera, I actually took these two people, and we went to these historical places. And that episode, by faith, will be up; you’ll be able to watch that for free. You don’t have to do anything, you just watch it.

But that’s part of what we’ve done with the BFA, is that we’re providing opportunity for people to build a biblical foundation for their faith in using things like programs like Hanukkah. There’s going to be the Christmas special, that will have come out two days ago on the 25th. You’ll get a chance to watch it. But our goal has been to give people the chance to go to the site, whether they’re a free member or if they would be willing to take the next step. It’s the end of the year. We’re looking for 300 people to become a part of the Premium Content Library, to produce what I think is the most important series that we’ve ever done, and we can’t do that in 2015 without people choosing to be a part of the Premium Content Library now.

So I want to invite people to simply sit down, pray about it, ask the questions. It’s almost the end of the year, go to bfainternational.com, enter the Academy, and all you have to do is say Premium Content Library member, minimum of $9.99 a month. Why did I want to wait to the end of the program? Because it’s the end of the year. It’s the end of this, and so right now the last thing you can do is you can actually go to the website and say, “Okay, I want to be a part of this.” And not only are you talking about, “This is what we hope to do in the future.” You get a chance to see everything we’ve done in the past, over 50 episodes are available in the Premium Content Library that you can watch, share with your family and friends. Actually, you can have group meetings, sit down with it.

So that’s our encouragement, bfainternational.com, inspiring people around the world to build a biblical foundation for their faith, and we cannot do that going forward without your help. Be one of the 300 that will help us go into this next year and produce something that we think is going to be… that’s not just controversy, it’s going to be really amazing to help people in that.

So that’s what I wanted to say about that. It’s the end of the year. Hopefully, you’ll do that. Nehemia, this little process that we’ve gone through with Prophet Pearls, we did this by faith, also. We didn’t know how it was going to work. And truthfully, half of our Prophet Pearls sections have been sponsored, but there’s another whole half that haven’t. And so we’re going into this upcoming year believing that people are going to come alongside and go to nehemiaswall.com, go to bfainternational.com, and support our ministries, individually. But also, when we share what we’re doing together, that they’ll also do that.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: So this has been, for me, amazing. I want to thank all the people that have helped this year. Also, the BFA Bulletin is available on the front page. You can see the whole year-end of what we’re doing. So is there anything else you want to say? I mean obviously, we went over a little bit, only 11 minutes, though, so that’s not bad at all; that goes for all those times that we went less than a minute. Anything else you want to say?

Nehemia: No. I mean, yes, can we end the year in prayer?

Keith: Absolutely. Let’s both pray.

Nehemia: Yes, please.

Keith: Father, I want to thank you so much for an amazing year of 2014. Though it’s not according to the biblical calendar, those of us over here in the United States have been going through this year, in 2014, we’ve had ups and we’ve had downs. But in the end, we know that You are the one who’s in control and You are the one that will bring Your people from all over the world to Your land and with their friends. And they will be Your people, and You will be their God. So in the midst of all that, help us to be people who have hearts that are listening, hearts that are soft, eyes that are open, ears that are open, and help us to continue to do this process by faith as we bring not only Prophet Pearls, but all the information that we have, the biblical information, inspiration, and revelation to people around the world, that they will be able to have a solid foundation in their faith.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: Yehovah, avinu shebashamayim, our Father in heaven. You are close to all who call You in truth as the Psalmist said. Yehovah, I ask that, as You’re gathering in the people from all over the world, the people from the ten tribes and the two tribes, and the friends who have joined both of those groups, Yehovah, I ask that You open our eyes and uncover our eyes to the wonderful hidden things of Your Torah, Yehovah. And that You reveal to us the high places that are in our lives. The high places we don’t even realize. In humility and in truth and with an open heart we come to You, Yehovah, and we come to those places to bring our sacrifices, and we don’t realize that this is a transgression of your Torah, but You still come and You meet us in those places. Yehovah, meet people in those places, meet me, Yehovah, in dreams and reveal to me as You reveal to Solomon the truth that would eventually bring him to Jerusalem, Yehovah. Yehovah, I look forward to the descendant of David who will be Your King Messiah. Yehovah, I want to come before him and accept him as my king and know him. And Yehovah, live in this period where You describe here where You will cut an internal covenant, a covenant of peace, Yehovah. Let us be in that covenant of peace under the reign of your King Messiah from the line of David, Father. Let this be soon. Amen.

Keith: Amen.

You have been listening to Prophet Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon’s Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

We hope the above transcript has proven to be a helpful resource in your study. While much effort has been taken to provide you with this transcript, it should be noted that the text has not been reviewed by the speakers and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. If you would like to support our efforts to transcribe the teachings on NehemiasWall.com, please visit our support page. All donations are tax-deductible (501c3) and help us empower people around the world with the Hebrew sources of their faith!

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Related Posts: The Original Torah Pearls - Vayigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27) Torah and Prophet Pearls Hebrew Voices Episodes Support Team Studies Nehemia Gordon's Teachings on the Name of God

The original art at the top of this page was created by 12 year old Laine Forrest based on the verses:

"As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: 'For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.' Then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.' Then join them one to another for yourself into one st." Ezekiel 37:16-17

Our thanks also go out to other artists who submitted some amazing original works of art for this week's episode. The runner-up was Anna Jakubowski who created this stunning depiction of Ezekiel's stick:

Prophet Pearls Vayigash, Ezekiel, Aliyah, tel abib, tel aviv, haftarah, vayigash, Ingathering, Israel, judah, josephus, Keith Johnson, nehemia gordon, northern kingdom, parashah, Parsha, parshas, parshat, prophets, rabbi akiva, rabbi eliezer, return of exiles, salvation in tanakh, two sticks united

  • Valerie Reid says:

    I’m just very grateful for this dialog, also this invitation to join with others on similar paths, walked away from lies told to me in pews, while no explanation or apologies, I set out alone, not knowing another soul searching for same truth…keeping Shabbat first, I started having new understanding as I studied, everyone discouraged me from my path, much turmoil washed over me, but 15 Yrs later, I still search out wisdom in Torah.

  • Robert adkins says:

    Guys I can not put into words the blessings I get from listening to two great friends! I just love you guys! May yehovah continue to bless both Keith and you Nehemiah. When will you guys be speaking together in the US?

  • shell says:

    I just wanted to contribute a verse:

    Ezk 47: v22. And it shall come to pass, [that] ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
    v23. And it shall come to pass, [that] in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give [him] his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.

    This is so beautiful to me, that when God unites those 2 sticks and divides the land to israel, He gives their friends the freedom to choose any place they wish in His land. That just really moves me

  • CLAUSS liliane says:

    Shalom from France, I find an error about reference when you said

    “Nehemia:: I believe it was actually the verse where it says, “Baruch kvod Yehovah mimekomo.” That was the verse, which I couldn’t tell you the chapter and verse number for, because I don’t memorize those things, usually. But I can look it up in my little program. It was Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 12.”

    I think you meant Ezekiel chapter 3, not 2

    Thanks very munch all three for your job ! Bless you and your family

    Liliane

  • Jeffrey says:

    E pluribus unum

  • Stu Lowndes says:

    In addition to the ingathering from diaspora (collective idea of a settlement), I believe the individual idea of מוֹשָׁב alludes to the mechanism of deliverance, since the NT talks about the mortal body as a temporary dwelling (succah):

    Compare:
    “but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned”

    “For I delight in the Law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

    Wretched man that I am! Who will DELIVER ME me from this BODY of death?” -Romans 7:22-24

    “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”
    -1 Cor 15:51-53

    This is alluded to in the transition from the Mishkan to the Mikdash.

  • Stu Lowndes says:

    “In the future light will be shed on them”
    compare:

    “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the FACE of Yeshua Mashiach” -2 Cor 4:6

    “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” is the Torah. The realization of the Aaronic blessing. The Light shone (verb) and the Seed planted.

    Malachi 4 Sun alluded to in the story of Yoseph at least 2 times (Potiphar and Potipherah).

    Isaiah 66 Human grain offering alluded to in story of Yoseph by “gathering grain as the Sand of the Seashore”.

    It seems to me that the mantle of Sar HaPanim is the method concealment of the Mashiach.

  • Robert adkins says:

    Well we know what year you was born in nehemia. 😉! Just joshing you brother, lol! Thank you once again to my two favorite friends. I love you both, very much. May YEHOVAH cont. To bless you and YESHUAH guide you.

  • Stephanie says:

    Bonded together; Covenant of salt forever and ever amen.

  • JW Brakebill says:

    Shalom gentlemen! As always, thoroughly enjoyed your presentation.

    You mentioned many British believing they are part of the lost ten tribes. Back in the mid to late 1900’s, there was a Christian preacher named Herbert W Armstrong that started the now dissolved, Shabbat keeping, World Wide Church of God out of Pasadena, CA.

    He used to teach that the Hebrew word for covenant is “berı̂yth” and one of the Hebrew words for man is “‘ı̂ysh.” When combined, berı̂’ı̂yth ‘ı̂ysh, becomes in English, Brithish or British, supposedly meant, “covenant man.” That could explain why they think they are of Israel.

    He also taught that an old English legend has it that Jacob’s stone of Gen 28:11, is buried under the coronation throne in England. Never knew if it was true, but does make sense as to why some Brits may feel they could be part of Israel. My ancestors came from that part of the world, so I too hope I am part of lost Israel, as I tend to lean towards striving to be Torah observant, but with beliefs/faith in Yeshua’s sacrificial blood replacing the blood of sheep & goats. Almost like a Messianic Jew, but not celebrating all the man conceived holidays in Judaism, only Yehovah commanded Holy Days.

    Armstrong also wrote an interesting book, “America & Britain in Prophecy,” where, utilizing scriptures, he tries to prove that many of Reuben settled in France, and that many tribes settled in European nations, with Dan being a serpent’s trail, naming many towns, bergs, and rivers after Dan, where they migrated. Oh yeah, he also believed that America and Britain were lots of the descendants of Ephraim & Manessah, and explains why these countries became so blessed and powerful. Whether totally accurate or not, very interesting read.

    One last thing. Nehemia, do you know how will these lost tribes will know WHEN to make aliyah back to Israel, and if there is a sign for the Jews to see, so that they will become willing to accept the return of these brothers? At present, they only accept aliyah of known Jews, don’t they? Thanks

    • donald murphy says:

      if no more sacrifices then why the 3rd temple? Ez40.

      • Owen Murphy says:

        Nehemia/ Donald – I have the same question. Animal sacrifices to God are not a sin and were never seen as sin by any of Israel’s twelve tribes. Many of the ‘lost ten’ belief slaughter a lamb and eat it at Passover time yet, fully believe and see Christ’s sacrifice and and blood as totally a fulfillment for ‘justification’. The lesson of the innocent ‘lamb’ slain is very needful for any and all who are yet to be born and become part of the Kingdom of God. Christian animus toward Jews over the centuries has had a focus on the practice which is in error.

  • Ruth says:

    This was so great; I’m so glad there was a transcript, too, as I will need to listen again to make sure I’ve gleaned as much as I can. I have never seen that aspect of the “two sticks” elucidated so well before.

    And I just want to give a mention to Anna Jakubowski for her wonderful artistic work – so excellent.

    Listening to these podcasts is like receiving an invitation to a banquet in ancient Israel…even for one barefoot and not rich…and finding a table prepared with luscious foods from the land; such a variety both delightful to the palate and nourishing for the body, metaphorically.

    Thank you…

  • Jeff Justice says:

    What an Awesome Prophet Pearl…Keep up the Good Work Nehemia, and Keith.

  • Carvel Rider says:

    Ty Nehemiah my desire is to become Ecuador with Israael

  • Chionia (Hanna) says:

    May Judah, the Children of Israel and his comrads be joined and come together during our life time!

  • Roxanne says:

    Isaiah 49 and Jeremiah 31
    It’s morning; Israel is awakening! 🙂
    Boker tov!

  • Perhaps I’m oversimplifying, but I see the Ten Tribes of the Northern Kingdom adopting pagan practices with overtones of Leviticism mixed in, inasmuch as these tribes did not profess any different god. These tribes went into Assyrian captivity and were dispersed into lands which eventually fell to the Roman Empire. Under Constantine the new bastard religion was recognized and protected. The popes took over, added more pagan elaborations (son-of-god, vicarious atonement, Sunday worship, etc.) and Christianity was enforced as the state religion. The Ten Tribes are still practicing it! The Pope is the Antichrist, having a crown which declares VICARIVU FILII DEI, i.e. taking the place of the “son of god.” Those letters as Roman numerals add up to 666. I found a way out of Christianity by questioning, comparing NT to OT; keeping biblically kosher, keeping Sabbath, and more studying. Many prophecies give me comfort that these tribes will return to Leviticism and rejoin the Whole House of Israel (e.g. Ez. 37 two sticks; Zech. 8 ten men). But the kicker is, the jealous House of Judah insists he alone is heir to the Covenant! Here I turn to a prophecy said to have been spoken by the righteous Jew, Jesus, the parable of the prodigal son. God Himself will reconcile the two houses.

    • donald murphy says:

      kitty, why do ucondemn Christianty on one hand, and on the other quote it. I say stay away from it totally.

  • suzanholland says:

    I can’t help but notice that the two sticks will become one (echad) in the hand of the prophet (symbolically, but “actually so” with the 2 physical sticks, v. 17) before they are made echad literally (spiritually speaking–one “New Man”/United Kingdom) “in the hand of God” in the “end times.” I find it intriguing in the sense that we are yet expecting “Elijah” to return and to “restore all things”–including “restoring the hearts of the children to the Fathers” (rejoining the 2 sticks in the hand of the prophet??)… Rhetorical Q: Could it be that “Elijah” will call for the “uniting of the 2 Houses (and their companions)” and then we will see the fulfillment of God “doing this”? Seems (to me) there is a connection here. shabbat shalom

  • Owen Murphy says:

    Nehemia and Keith – This study is a ‘pearl’ of great price as you explain ‘companions’ so well and the aspect of those ‘Levited’ to God as Keith did in the Isaiah 56;6 segment.

  • Joy Mathew says:

    Thank you for what you are doing and this was just an eye opener to something in which I suspected and thank YHVH for gathering and cleansing me and making me a part of Israel.

    Our family tradition that one of our great great forefathers 1950 years or more before became a disciple of Yahushua of Nazareth through the preaching of Thomas the Apostle.

  • It’s the Risen David, and hes’ called the Nasi not King.

  • Teresa lloyd says:

    We are the wild olives that are grafted in.

  • anomnymous says:

    Thankyou nehemia and keith. An especially timely message with many pearls my heart really does rejoice in when I hear them (and my mouth does too!) Tho my local shepards have failed me you two are a continued answer to prayer to my father….with tears I thankyou for standing up and informing this speckled sheep.

  • Ilse says:

    Nehemia, would you consider doing a study on Ez.37:1-14 when you get back from you current speaking engagements?

  • Heiki says:

    Really love what you are doing, but there is one question I have though;
    You make the reference to echadim in Ez. 37:17 amongst others, but reading the text (or looking at the letters is more precise as I am not able to read Hebrew yet), I see it spells out echad (same vowel points), both in Strongs and BHS.

    Is it then to be understood that echad becomes echadim depending on the noun it is paired with? As united ones would render echad to be read and understood as echadim (but spelled echad?) whilst united one would render it echad as it was spelled? Little bit confused you might say…

    Or is it my texts that are a bit out of sync?

    Thank you for your response in the matter

    • Here is a literal translation/ transliteration of Ezekiel 37:17,

      “And you shall bring them close, echad to echad, to be for you echad wood, and they shall be achadim in your hand.”

      The first three instances of “echad” are “one”. The 4th instance is achadim “united”.

      • Heiki says:

        Thank you!

        I also found out why I kept reading it wrong, Quote;
        ” Unfortunately (due to space limitations), Young’s and Strong’s both list the rare plural form (achadim, or /*miiydxa in Hebrew letters) and the “AS one” (Kechad, or dxak in Hebrew script) form along with the common singular form (echad) without distinguishing among them. ”

        Quite annoying to say the least…

  • Dan Herman says:

    This study was SUCH a comfort! We needed this! May YHVH UNITE us under His banner soon!

  • Cheryl olson says:

    Hi Nehemia
    I have a question. You mention those who have “shaken their family trees” and have found that they may be of Jewish linage. This is the case with my family but may only be confirmed with DNA testing. If this testing were to be done, I have wondered, do we have different obligations in our service to YHVH as Jews?

  • The re-gathering, an amazing process that only Yah can complete. Many have lost much for this to happen, and it has only begun. Let us humble ourselves in justice and kindness wherever we can, because for many it has been sorely lacking. Peace to those of good will. Ba malcooth IAUEH.

  • ksl4israel says:

    This has been a really great day! Torah Pearls and Prophet Pearls are teaching me so much I did not know. To go thru the different Bibles and search along with you both is a blessing upon my heart. Thank you Nehemia and Keith for continuing where Torah Pearls left off. Wow, I am left feeling such inspiration and Hope for the future. Blessings to you both! Shalom

  • UKJ says:

    Shalom Nehemiah, Shalom Keith,

    Ezekiels Temple

    Eze 47:1 Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.

    Hmm,

    Could this possibly mean “the future temple will be placed over the Gihon spring/s (as in intermittent)?”

    Psalm 87:1-3 and 7.
    Zechariah 14:8

    Pss 87:2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

    Please may I ask “When it speaks of Zion here, would this equal (=) temple?

    Another extraordinary topic..

    The dry bones.

    Eze 37:4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O all of you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

    The dry bones represent the whole house of Israel in Babylon. But what does this mean?
    Would this mean both Houses as in captivity ? In the time of Ezekiel, the Northern Tribes had already gone and were carried away..yet his vision of the dry bones included the Northern Tribes and was yet far in the future..yet the vision had been in Babylon, (Assyria) as both had been in captivity there.

    Again thank you both for the wonderful and friendly way of discussions, it is most appreciated. Thank you Keith for your humorous way of honouring Jehovah.

  • Clea Belcher says:

    The subject and the prayers at the end were from the Almighty. It was a “come to Daddy” moment. Father Yehovah is the one we must recognize above all others and He is the mighty Everliving God who will bring salvation and world peace to pass through His Messiah, to whom, as Nehemia said, we we will submit as Lord.
    Thank you. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom.

    • Or as lord (my spelling).

      • Leaves Heal says:

        This goes back to that word, “echadim.” When we say the shema, we say “Yehowah echad,” as we were given in Torah: not “echadim.” If He had wanted to leave room for a “triune nature,” with messiah being Lord with a capital “L,” He could have. He didn’t.

      • Clea Belcher says:

        Thank you for clarification. This is the answer to my wondering whether, when Messiah reigns, people will call him God, or God’s representative with the power and authority of God who sent him. I know of no requirement that Messiah must be God. Yehovah is the only God. Thanks.

  • Janice says:

    Nice discussion guys. In the process of change; people react differently; just like when people experience grief; so as some are going through the process; they respond differently; some were “bible thumpers” to begin with they just bring over some of their previous Christian methods with them. The biggest reason is that “we have no fathers” like the house of Judah. We have no interupted chain of transmission. The bible thumber evangelical methods don’t work; they need to lay it down; for those in the Torah for long time, no one had to sell them on the idea; they were drawn by the Ruach; they flowed toward those really excellant teachers who could present this end time move of YeHovah; in a right manner.

  • Hi. In describing the “two house” or “restored house” teaching you did not include the Scriptures that drew some people’s attention to it. There are many, the chief being your Ezekiel 37. Also, Romans 9 refers the read back to Osea / Hosea. Hosea talks about two wives… one is Judah and the other is Israel/Joseph/Ephraim; those are the terms used in that prophecy; you read from that book, but that verse was more of a culmination.

    I’m sure you already know about the Kingdom being taken from Solomon’s son Rehoboam; how Ephraim/Judah/Israel/10 tribes stomped up to the north under the leadership of Jeroboam who immediately set up pagan worship using two golden calves to keep them from going back to Jerusalem to be restored with their brothers; this may be a similitude of the two feast traditions in Christianity today which so occupy Christians that they do not have time to consider the feasts of the Creator. When some of the scattered sheep came back to Jerusalem in response to Hezekiah’s invitation, some of them began tearing down the high places.

    There are families with problems, and David’s was the epitome of dysfunction; his heart had to have been broken. How our Creator must feel when He observes us. Yikes! At least the Creator doesn’t have to blame Himself or worry that the cause was bad parenting. Messiah told several two son parables; He came to restore us to himself and to each other. He came to restore brothers. The brother who went off to the north and then came home welcomed by his father but facing an arms crossed, toe-tapping annoyed brother; the brother who built his house on sand which may be representative of the traditions of man, then when that failed he went running to the house of his brother who had built his home on a rock, which may be representative of Torah.

    These are just a few notes; others have written more cogently and completely about what the Bible says concerning this. Many “Hebrew roots” people I have met are pretty much unaware of this teaching. Some have distanced themselves from it not wanting to offend the MJAA. Also, there are at least two different “two house” messages; the message I am describing was changed to “restored house” after I first heard it in order to be distinguished from the other. What I have described is the only one I am familiar with.

  • tinahb01 says:

    Great explanation of the two houses and the “friends”, those attached to them. I love this portion but it has been distorted by so many and this brought great clarity. I also loved the explanation of the words “echad” and “echadim”, I am storing these away in my heart. Thank you!

  • Karen Powell says:

    Turning the hearts of the sons to the fathers.People will learn who,what the patriarch’s were and who what they believed in.

    YHVH can ultimately transform ANY human and animals nature.
    He has the blueprints, knows how. But,right now we all need to see within ourselves how we and each generation of people act,and respond verses what he wants and expects.

  • Mike Leberte says:

    I think there are verses avoided due to tradition and biases. :>)

    Come on Nehemia you know about traditions ie. the ban on the name!! :>)