Exodus 12 Observations

See Passover resources here and here. 

Acts 7 Observations

Acts 7 :16 Are these the same people whose son defiled Dinah? If so, is there a connection between the defiling of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and Sarah, a most honorable woman and wife of Abraham? Sarah, was the first person buried in the cave that Abraham bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

Although I have not investigated this further, this sounds like the MO of the wicked one. If he can, he loves to defile, desecrate, mar, and mark that which has been set-apart and is honorable.

Acts 7:25 How did Moses know what he was born to do, even while he lived in the house of the enemy of YAH’s people and ate from his table? Verse 22 says that Moses was mighty and learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians. We are not told exactly how Moses knew that he would be raised up to lead the Children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. But we can deduce that his foreknowledge of this was not by natural means.

I do not believe that YAH would have told Moses to kill the Egyptian. This tells me that Moses’ knowledge of his call did not initially come from YAH, Himself. On the other hand, Moses received legitimate understanding of his call and role at the burning bush.

Yet, Moses and other examples in the Bible, show us the danger of having or accessing above-natual knowledge that YAH has not authorized individuals to know and have. Super-natural knowledge that YAH has not given, sooner or later, will always lead to death. Hence the death of the Egyptian at the hand of Moses in Acts 7:28 (Ex. 2:11-12).

Other Instances

Adam and Eve accessed the forbidden tree—death to them and corruption of creation

Saul and the witch of Enfor—death to him, his sons, and many of the mighty men of Israel

The Wise Men from the East—death to the sons of Bethlehem. Some say that Daniel made provision before he died to bestow the gifts that the magi from the East brought to YAHUSHA. Scripture does not tell us this. Would Daniel have instructed these magi to go directly to Herod, the enemy of Israel, to find YAHUSHA and thus cause the death of the babies in Israel 2 years and younger? If they got their information from YAH, would he have given them wisdom on how to maneuver out of detection of Herod, even as he did for Mary and Joseph as they eluded the decree of Herod concerning the life of YAHUSHA? Yes, the information of the magi from the East was accurate. But my question is how did they come to know this information?

These accounts are warnings for all. Stay out of magic and sorcery of any form and kind. I do realize the the modern-day delimna is that so many don’t recognize sorcerous practices and thereby ignorantly participate in them. To avoid this violation of Father’s loving instruction, we should not participate in a practice that is not endorsed in Scripture.

You are only inviting death into your life and the life of your children and loved ones. For a while, the appearance may be that you are getting away with this. Adam and Eve lived a long time after their fall. They were meant to live forever. It took a while, but death surely came.

Acts 7:32 This is another instance of YAH making a connection to the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before His mighty power manifested on behalf of the children of Israel.

Acts 7:34 “my people which is” Israel in the singular; not plural. YAH is concerned with Israel-just Israel-the people of the everlasting covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  However, anyone can be redeemed and grafted into the commonwealth of Israel through Messiah (Eph. 2:11-13). This is why when one crosses over and becomes Hebrew (to cross over is the meaning of the word, Hebrew), one is not seen as a Gentile any longer in the eyes of YAH. There is no difference between natural blooded seed of Abraham and those who are engrafted into Israel. To my original point though–YAH is concerned with only Israel (the people for this point) and has made provision for “whosoever will” to repent and renounce “Gentilism.” We see Biblical precedence for this.

Ruth was a Moabite, but she renounced her pagan parentage and embraced the Elohim of Israel (Ruth 1:4, 22). She was not a second-class citizen. She was not a Gentile married to a Hebrew man, Boaz. I can not picture Boaz, a righteous mighty man of Israel marrying a pagan-practicing-pagan-embracing woman. Ruth became fully Hebrew. She was an Israelite.

This is like righteous Abraham, a former Syrian and thus Gentile (of the nations). The labels Jew and Jewish were not existant when Abraham crossed over from the paganism of his homeland. He became a Hebrew when he obeyed the command of YAH to leave his Babylonish homeland and worship only YAHUAH Elohim (Gen. 12:1; Deut. 26:5). Ruth is in the lineage of the Messiah (Matt. 1:5). YAH has one and only one bride, the House of Israel through the everlasting covenant.

Another point: Many of us have pointed out the pagan roots and thus the rotten fruit of pagan holidays and celebrations. But our words have not penetrated many hearts to change minds.

May I suggest that although we have spoken truth, most of us are only speaking half-truth concerning this. Let me explain. It’s nearly impossible to get a Gentile to let go of Christmas, Easter, ham sandwiches, catfish fries, crab legs, shrimp and lobster.  By contrast, it is not hard for a circumcised-in-heart Hebrew to abandon pagan days and ways.

Can we really blame Gentiles though? If they have not been taught the truth about itheir dentity. They have not been taught (always exceptions) that true sons and daughters of Abraham, whether natural or engrafted in, do not participate in nor do practices that the ancient Gentiles (pagans of the nations) did.  

As long as people believe that they are Gentiles and do not believe that they are the seed of Abraham through Messiah, they will continue to do what Gentiles do. If teach them to embrace and own the label, Gentile, we really have no righteous high ground to stand on to shine light on these practices. The aforementioned practices and many more are just what Gentiles are expected to do and they do indeed do them.