Good morning, 

I am reading in Leviticus and have a question.  I read our translation, and when describing the offerings it says, “it is a placating aroma made by fire to the LORD”, and KJV says a ” sweet savour unto the LORD.”  It just struck me how different that is.  Or is it?  I looked up the word “placate” to see the definition.  Does placating mean to stave off the anger of the LORD?  To “make do” for now?

Here is your translation of part of Leviticus 1:17: “The priest shall burn it on the altar as a burnt offering.  It is a placating aroma made by fire to the Lord.”

Beth D.

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Hi Beth.

To placate is to stop someone from being angry (Cambridge dictionary), and that is exactly what the law of Moses did, regarding the wrath of God.  The law’s ceremonies, especially the sacrifices, appeased the wrath of God against our sin until His Son came and made a way for us to live in God’s righteousness.  When Jesus did that, there no longer existed a need for God’s wrath to exist against us.  The law was not God’s permanent solution to man’s sin; the power of the holy Ghost is.

The dictionary definition of the Hebrew word which we translated as “placating” is “quieting, soothing, tranquillizing”; it has nothing to do with a sweet smell.  I doubt that the burning flesh of animal sacrifices was sweet at all.

Thank you for the question.

Pastor John

Hi Pastor John, 

I was reading this section of Exodus 18 to see if God or Jethro told Moses to appoint men to help him judge Israel. 

17. Then Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.
18. You will certainly wear out, both you and this people who are with you, because this thing is too heavy for you. You cannot do it alone.
19. Listen now to my voice. Let me advise you, and may God be with you. You must remain before God for the people, and bring their cases to God.
20. And you teach them the statutes and laws and make known to them the way they are to live and the thing they must do,
21. But you look for able men who fear God among the people, trustworthy men who hate a bribe, and set over them rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
22. And let them judge the people at all times, and it will be that they will bring every great matter to you, but every lesser matter, they will themselves judge. So, make it easier on yourself, and let them bear the burdenwith you.
23. If you will do this thing, and God command it you, then you will be able to continue, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”
24. And Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and he did everything that he had said.

In verse 23, Jethro says “if God commands you”.  Then, verse 24 says Moses “hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law,” but it does not say he sought God or that God thought it good.  So, did the elders that began as helpers for Moses eventually become the Pharisees? 

Beth D

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Hi, Beth.

Moses’ helpers in Exodus 18 pre-dated the Pharisees by about a thousand years, so, they did not become the Pharisees.  And as for who told Moses to appoint helpers, I feel sure that God approved of Jethro’s suggestion for Moses to do so, for Moses really did need the help.

Remember, Jethro was a Midianite, and the Midianites were the smartest people in the Old Testament.  So, his suggestion was a very good one.

Thanks for the question.

Pastor John

Hi & Yahweh’s Shalom & Blessings!!!

I personally received the In-Filling & Baptism of The Holy Spirit on June 6th, 1958!!  As you can see that was a few years ago!!!  Hahhelu-YAH!!!  Praise His Name, i.e., Yahweh-!  By & thru His son, “Yahshua Ha Mashiach” ; i.e., known by most as Jesus Christ!!!

Thank you & Blessings,

Messianic-Rabbi Harry Shmuel Dombek

PS:  Our 15 year old WebSite ( WWW.YahwehsFeastDaySite.Com)* speaks about “The Baptism of the Holy” – in the same way you do also-!!!

PSS: Now, have you – “By His HOLY-SPIRIT” – come into the Truth & Knowledge of His True Hebrew Name, and His Son Yahshua Ha Mashiach – as of yet-???  Here is a brief verse to think  & Pray about: John 5:43� –  “I am come in my Father’s Name, – (- i.e., Yahweh -)-  and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.� Remember, there was never any letter – “J” – in the Ancient Hebrew writings, nor in any of the modern Hebrew writings-!!!

Etc., etc. …..

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Hi Brother Harry.

This is Pastor John.  Brother Gary Savelli passed along your email to me, and I asked him if I could respond.

I tried to go to the website you attached, but the link would not work for me.  Neither did it work when I manually typed in the website name.  I wanted to see what your website says about the baptism of the Spirit, since you wrote that you speak of the baptism of the Spirit as we do here.  I am always excited when I hear that the Lord has opened someone’s eyes to the truth that he has also shown to us.

You know that God, through Isaiah, condemned those religious teachers who condemned others over the right use of a word: “who make a man a sinner because of a word, and lay a trap for the judge in the gate, and by false pretense defraud the righteous man” (Isa. 29:21, my translation).  This is what I see with most people who insist that only Jesus’ Hebrew name is to be used.  I do not believe that God refuses the prayers of righteous souls who speak to Him in their own language.

You mentioned that Hebrew has no “J” sound.  That it correct.  Latin has no “J” sound, either, nor does it have a “V” sound.  And the Romans always pronounced the “e” at the end of their words.  So the correct pronunciation of the chief of Rome’s gods, Jove, is pronounced very close to, if not exactly this: Yahweh.

In case you are interested, here is an article I wrote about that, some years ago now.

https://www.isaiah58.com/clark/clark03_13_97.html

I wish you well, and I hope at some point to be able to visit your website, and I would love to hear your testimony someday of the grace of God that came to you in 1958.

Your servant for Christ,

Pastor John

*Web address inoperable at time of this post.

Hi Pastor John, 

Reading in Exodus and have a question.

Exodus 24:9-11

Wow! How amazing that must have been.  Seventy-four of them experienced that together! Makes me daydream!

When it says they beheld God, was it different from when Moses saw God as He passed before him? 

9. Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders went up.
10. And they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet was something like a paved work of sapphire as pure as the sky itself.
11. Yet, He did not stretch out His hand against the chief men of the sons of Israel, but they beheld God, and ate and drank.

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Yes, it was different, but exactly how it was different, we cannot say.

jdc

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I was reading more about the Sabbath, and (knowing that the holy ghost is our Sabbath in this covenant) God was serious about us living in the Spirit.  I had the thought, if we seek out the things of this world and choose not to rest, we do die spiritually.  It does cut us off from our people.  We don’t have to get pulled into politics, family, or strife!  We have been given rest.  It does something to me to learn that God tells us keeping the Sabbath is our covenant with Him.  I pray to honor our rest. 

The Sabbath

      12. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

13. “You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘You shall certainly keep my Sabbaths, for it will be a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you.
14. You shall certainly keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Those who defile it shall surely be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
15. Six days may work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to Jehovah. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.’
16. And the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever

Just to read and see that God was talking to us, giving us instruction and help from the beginning, amazes me.  I keep reading and realizing what has gone in and what I remember from everything you have taught.  I love that part!  Thank you for teaching me. I could go on and on, but I will save it for next time! 

Beth D.

Good morning, 

I am really enjoying Moses.  I stopped at Uzziel in The Jerusalem Council because I just want to go back to the beginning with Moses and when God was giving him the law, then join Paul! 

Two thoughts so far are that they accused Moses of the same thing they accused Paul of (Numbers 16:3).  And then I thought of the things some have accused you of.  It’s the same thing, all the way back to Moses! 

When I see that it makes me say, “Rejoice” on the inside! 

And Numbers 20:11, 2 when God was upset with Moses for striking the rock after He told him to speak to the rock.  I was thinking about what speaking to the rock vs hitting it would have given to the Israelites, if anything.  I think I remember that God was upset with Moses for disobeying Him and acting in anger, but God said that Moses and Aaron did not believe in Him to sanctify Him in the eyes of the Israelites.  Did they not believe God would send water just by speaking to the rock?  Or punish disobedience?  What am I not seeing?  This kept Moses and Aaron out of the promised land. 

I know I have heard about this but I cannot remember. 

Beth Durham

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Hi Beth.

In saying that Moses did not believe and sanctify Him before the people, God meant that Moses had not been a good example for the Israelites of obedience to God’s command.  Apparently, Moses was not the only one who knew he was supposed to speak to the rock, and so, when he hit it instead, he was not being a good example.  Moses had let the people’s rebellious attitude provoke him too much, and in anger against them, he disobeyed God and struck the rock.  Moses really wanted to strike the people; that is how frustrated he was.

In our time, the spirits of anger, hatred, and strife are hard at work in the world, and people who are caught up in all that are trying to pass it on to others, including God’s children, and provoke them to act under those ungodly spirits.  If we pay much attention to those foolish people, they may persuade us to act under the influence of their evil spirits, and if we do that, we will certainly provoke God’s wrath, as it was provoked against Moses, for our unbelief and our failure to sanctify (honor) Him before people.

Let’s believe God and honor Him before all men by confessing that He is still in command of this universe and by refusing to be provoked by the foolish to pick sides in this world’s conflicts.

Pastor John

I’m digging in Numbers to learn about the sin of Balaam.  Revelation 2:14 talked about him casting a stumbling block before Israel.  Where can I find more about him doing that? 

Beth D.

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Hi Beth!

It is so good to see someone digging into the scriptures in search of the knowledge of God.  Dig for it in prayer, as for hidden treasure because Jesus promised, “Seek and you shall find.”

In Numbers 31 (see verse 16), we find Balaam still in the area of Moab, and Moses killed him along with other enemies of Israel.  So, Balaam did not return to his homeland at the end of Numbers 24, the way it sounds.  He only went back to his tent, which was in that area, and he decided not to go home but to remain in that area so that he could get the large sum of money that Moab’s King Balak promised him if he would help him overcome Israel.  It was Balaam’s crafty advice that Israel was following when they blended with Moab and their gods in Numbers 25, and the influence of that horrible advice continued in Israel for a long time (see Josh. 22:17).

The equivalent of Balaam’s doctrine in the New Testament is when a minister is hired to teach a doctrine that says to someone with the holy Ghost that it is OK with God for them to be joined together in marriage with a person who does not have the holy Ghost, or when a person with the holy Ghost is talked into joining one of the churches of Christianity – none of which are the body of Christ.

“Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers” covers a lot of territory, and that simple statement is God’s cure for Balaam’s cunning, “love everybody” doctrine.  Let’s stay away from that lie.

Thanks again for writing!

Pastor John