Hidden Hebrew Idioms

The Finding Emet radio program aims to help people understand and live the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The program features the teaching of Brother Daniel Rendleman, who discusses hidden Hebrew idioms in the scriptures. These idioms can be confusing and require a recognition of the Hebrew language and unique writing styles. Understanding these idioms can challenge our beliefs and common-held beliefs. The Bible is best understood in its original language, and studying it in Hebrew can reveal hidden messages. Idioms are expressions that cannot be taken literally, and they add lively ideas to our language. The Bible is full of Hebrew idioms that may not make sense when translated word for word. It is important to recognize and understand these idioms to fully comprehend the scriptures. Hello, and welcome to the Finding Emet radio program. Emet is the Hebrew word for truth. This program will help you understand and live the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The Finding Emet radio program features the teaching ministry of Brother Daniel Rendleman of Emet Ministries. Prepare your heart to receive the Emet, the truth of the scriptures. More audio lessons and teaching articles are available at the www.emetministries.com website. Please visit our site to find all things spiritual, including a free online Bible search program, or submit your prayer requests. That's www.emetministries.com or www.findemet.com. CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Let's welcome our teacher, Daniel Rendleman, as he helps us find the Emet. So this season continues our series on Hebrew, the living letters, and this week we're going to be talking about hidden Hebrew idioms. Say that with me, hidden Hebrew idioms, one more time, hidden Hebrew idioms. All right, great. As we study and read the scriptures, we come across certain statements, certain comments that are in the scriptures, and it's like, that just doesn't make sense. What does this mean? What does this really mean when we read it? We're, you know, and many times, if we're honest, we kind of skip through that. So today's teaching is going to go into some of these areas and items that maybe we didn't quite understand before. Maybe they made sense. Maybe they didn't make sense until we get there. And we're going to look at some of these, and it's going to challenge some of your beliefs and common-held beliefs that you have right now, because a study of the Bible must include a recognition of the Hebrew language and unique writing styles. As you pick up the Bible and read, you're going to realize you really, as you read it, yes, we want to take it, you know, at face value. We want to take the Bible literally. But there are certain phrases of speech, there are certain translation issues, there are certain idioms, certain things that are used of the language. And it gives us a unique mixture of areas to study, because people that are unfamiliar with the language might get confused. Now, let me explain this to you. And the way I want to explain to you how words of phrase and idioms actually can change our understanding and can stop us from understanding someone properly, I want to read you a story. I want you to meet somebody. Are you ready? I want you to meet somebody. His name is John. John Idiom is his name. John Idiom. Everybody meet John. Say hi, John. Hi, John. John Idiom. John is a middle-aged business guy stuck in the rat race of life. He planned a corporate outdoor picnic until the rain clouds violently rolled in. John was so mad that he blew a fuse because of the wet conditions. His big plans were now ruined. He was boiling over. It's raining cats and dogs, he complained to himself. You see, a meteorologist had told him straight from the horse's mouth that it was supposed to rain hard. John thought his friend was just pulling his leg, so now he was really up the creek without a paddle. How could John host a cookout with mouth-watering hamburgers in the pouring rain? Well, gosh, said John, I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles, he said as he pushed his grill back under his carport. He worried that because of his failures, his boss would give him the ax. Poor John Idiom. Now, as you can imagine, John's a fictional character, but John, his life is just like us, full of cliches, full of idiomatic expressions that we use. And there are so many cliches and expressions, we don't even know that we're using them. They are so built in to the English language. Look at it this way, idiom is a statement that cannot be taken literally and that doesn't really stick out like a sore thumb. Does that make sense? Now, like any book, the Bible is best understood in its original language. Now, there are many messages in the scriptures that we miss because we read and study it in the English. And it's through studying it in the Hebrews, through looking at the Hebraic culture, looking at the history of the Jewish people, that our eyes are opened and we can see these hidden messages that are there. Now, think about it. We've grown up using idioms and words of speech all of our life, phrases of speech. Think about it, bull in a china shop, that's like me, you know, I'm just like a bull in a china shop, I'm going to break it, right, Don? I get an amen from back there, I'm going to break it. Sukkot, I borrowed a tent, I'm too cheap to buy a tent for Sukkot, so I borrow one. It's broken within five minutes of putting it together, okay? I'm going to break it. How about this one? When the cows come home, when the fat lady sings, when my ship comes in, when my ship comes in, I'm always at the airport. I don't know about you, but we use these things, don't we? It's natural. So an idiom is a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a certain language, and it adds lively ideas to our lives. And within the scriptures, there are many Hebrew idioms, but they can be very confusing because they don't mean what they say. So when we say to someone, what's the matter, Judah, does the cat have your tongue? We're not really suggesting that this ferocious feline has attacked his tongue, it's clawing him to death, are we? What are we saying? The person doesn't have anything to say. Go figure. I mean, think about it, does that make any sense? Here's some other idioms. What can you think of? Give me some ideas. Can you think of them to mind? Dime holding up a dollar, cut your nose off to spite your face, how about that one? Kick the bucket, what? Ease your hand out the lion's mouth, I've never heard that before. When pigs fly, don't bite off the hand that feeds you. These are good. Think about this. Remember the word bad in the 1980s with Michael Jackson? If in the 80s you said something was bad, it actually meant it was good. It was, wow, it's awesome. Now they say it's sick. Yo, dude, that's sick. What does that mean? What in the world does that mean? So with Michael Jackson, was the dancing good or bad? Who knows? Who really knows? An idiom is a set of words that can't be taken literal. So the definition of an idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meaning, a language, dialect, or style speaking of a particular people. And listen to this. An expression of one language whose parts correspond to elements in another language, but whose total structure is not matched. That means if there are idioms that you're speaking, and someone's trying to learn the English language, and they're learning it word for word, thought for thought, they're going to be up the creek without a paddle. Right? How about that? They're going to... I was close. They're going to be in trouble. They're going to be in trouble because they're not going to get it. They're just not going to get it. So I found some pictures of some idiom examples. Let's see what this is. First of all, it's raining cats and dogs. Oh, and I just stepped on a poodle. Okay. I love that joke. I'm sorry. It's raining cats and dogs. How about this? Holy cow! That's a good idiom. Holy cow. If you're German and you're learning English, when someone says, oh, I'm living on cloud nine, what in the world does that mean? Here's a couple more ideas. You ready? I can't talk. I have a frog in my throat. I've got a frog in my throat. Have you ever wondered if you have to eat your words if it tastes like chicken? Eat your words. Does it taste like chicken? Go to work. In the rat race. Or in this example, the gerbil race. That's exactly right. These things can be very confusing. It's easy to be misled word for word. Because people don't really spill the beans, do they? We can't really kill time. You know, we take certain words and we try to convey complex ideas. Let me give you an example. I had a guy come down and visit with us from Canada. And while he was with us for about a week, I would speak of our country as America. And he would correct me every time. He says, you don't live in America, Daniel. You live in the United States of America. I live in America as well. I live in North America. And there's South America. But, you know, America, it's not just America. Every language has its own collection of sayings. Thoughts, ways to imply things. So when a teenager says, you're off the chain. You're off the chain, yo. Okay? That means you are blessed and highly favored. You know what I'm saying? You are blessed and highly favored if you are off the chain. That's a good thing. That's a seal of approval. So there are age-specific phrases. And it makes it tough. It makes it tough. So just as the phrase, absent without leave, would confuse a person to English, there are many, many, many Hebrew idioms that are there in the Scriptures. Because they don't translate properly. People don't really kick the bucket, do they? I just like that. I think that's fun. People don't really kick the bucket. But did you know that a lot of these statements have made their way from the Hebrew Scriptures to the English that we speak today? I've got a short story I want to share with you that has all of these, several of these Hebrew idioms in them. You're going to really like this. So there was this man, and he was unwilling to go the second mile. Yet he still hoped to kill the fatted calf. This man thought it was all right to eat the forbidden fruit. Obviously, he did not believe in following the straight and narrow. This miserable person could not see the handwriting on the wall. He thought he was of all unto himself and would probably end up inheriting the wind. He expected manna to fall from heaven, probably because he was the kind who thought he could walk on water. Maybe his trouble began when his parents spared the rod and spoiled the child. In any case, he seems never to have learned that the love of money is the root of all evil. He must have believed the lazy and not the meek would inherit the earth. Someone may have told him that man does not live by bread alone, but it was casting pearls before swine, because like the leopard, he could not change his spots. So undoubtedly, he would go on trying to be all things to all men. Remember something from the Bible to the effect that it said one should eat, drink, and be merry. Oh well, let him go on. What am I? His brother's keeper? Think about that. There are 15 idioms in that story that have made their way from the Hebrew language, from the Hebrew text, into our speaking. Now the scriptures were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic. For hundreds of years, these idioms have been translated into English word for word. Now get this. An ancient manuscript written to a Jewish culture has been deciphered and changed to meet a modern society. That's what we have. I'm holding you a New King James Version Bible. And this Bible is the work of men looking at ancient manuscripts trying to make it fit today. And when we read the scriptures, we read the work of translators and scholars. And it's good information, but it's not the best. Because these workers have transformed an ancient document by taking these Hebrew texts and moving them and changing them. And so there's a lot lost in translation. So imagine this. You write to somebody that your mother kicked the bucket. And they read it and they picture in their mind your mother's kicking the bucket. People just, it's hard to understand it. And what's so sad is that we've been separated from the Hebraic culture for so long we don't even know when we have a bad understanding. We don't even recognize it. Confusion sets in. So I'm going to say this. The only thing worse than being wrong is being wrong and not knowing it. And for too long, we've been wrong and not known it. On many various levels. So when we're reading the scriptures, we come across these phrases and sometimes they're mixed up. You know, if you're like me, you just kind of skip over something if you don't get it. Yes, sometimes you have time to study it, but sometimes it's just, okay, I'll come back to that. We ignore the weird word pictures. You know, when it says that the person stood at the wall, what does that mean in King James language? What does that really mean? When it says that multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, what does it mean to multiply thy seed? Does that mean you're going to have more corn than someone else? You know, we have some ideas of some of these. But the Western brain works this way. It's called skip reading. We read. There's something we don't understand. We kind of skip over it and we keep going. And then we got the church that says, well, oh, just have faith. Have more faith. Believe it. Go ask the preacher. We have got to take Romans chapter 12 and make this our call. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. To have our mind renewed means that we learn the language and the culture of the Hebraic people. Our minds have to be made new to understand difficult passages. And so this renewal is aided by investigation, analysis, and examining the Bible instead of just reading it. It's amazing, but there's one place in the Scriptures that says you ought to read the Bible. And it was the king, when they came together for the Feast of Sukkot, was to read the Scriptures out loud to the people. Haka'el is the Hebrew commandment. It's in Deuteronomy 29 or 30. I believe it was, what, seven years when they gathered for Sukkot? They were to read it out loud. At other times, you know what the word was to be done? It was to be studied, not just casually read. But read and say, Father, speak to me. This is your living word. And, Connie, that might mean you read two verses today. It might mean you only study one verse. It might mean you take one verse and you take it apart for the whole week or you meditate on one concept. You study to show yourself approved. Because if we're just reading it, we're going to be confused. Think about it. Why is it that a wise man and a wise guy are just opposites? Why is the man who invests money called a broker? Does that make any sense? Think about it. When you get this picture taken, what does it say? Human? Does it say human? Okay. If an oriental person turns around seven times, does that make him disoriented? If a pig loses its voice, does it become disgruntled? If you are what you eat, let's take a few minutes and chew on a couple hidden Hebrew idioms. I love this picture. How do you like that? It is gross, isn't it? The plane sometimes just doesn't make sense, does it? It just doesn't make sense. I tell my kids. I said, you know, Nicholas, if you don't hurry up, you're going to be late to school. If you're late twice in a week, you know what that makes you? The first time you're late, you're called what? Tardy. The next day, does that make you retarded? I've always wondered these things. Come on, Mark. It just doesn't make sense. And if we read the Bible just like that, the difficult parts, we're not getting the full potential of the written word to change us. It tells us in 2 Timothy 2.15, study to show yourself approved. Is it talking to the rabbi? Is it talking to the preacher? It's talking to us. Everybody. So no longer do Hebrew idioms or bad translations have to stop us from understanding what the word really says. We've got to learn about the Hebrew culture. Think of this for a second. The French phrase, listen to this. Petit déjeuner. Petit déjeuner. Small lunch. If you take it exactly, it means small lunch. But you go to France and you say, ah, yes, I would like a petit déjeuner. I am Pepe Le Pew. I want a petit déjeuner. What's going to happen? They're going to look at you and say, oh, you want breakfast. You want breakfast. Because in the French culture, that's what many times they call breakfast. Now, being aware of culture brings clarity. The more we know, the more we understand the Hebraic culture, the more of Yeshua's words we can look at. So we're going to look at some of these Hebrew idioms. Most of what we're going to see is going to be words by Yeshua. And we're going to take some of those sacred cows and make some really good hamburgers. Because sacred cows make the best hamburgers. Let's look at Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, 17 through 18. Considerably, possibly one of the most misunderstood verses in all of the Bible. Matthew 5, 17 through 18. Matityahu 5, 17 through 18. And in the new King James version, that would be the King Jimmy version. Matthew chapter 5. The heading here tells me Christ fulfills the law. So I'm already being told what the verse means. I don't care what translation you're reading. It's going to convey some of what the people who are translating it believe. Because it's not perfect. There's some really good works out there. But it's going to have some of man in it. That's why we have to go back to the Hebrew. Look at verse 17. Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For surely I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled. For modern day Christians, contemporary church, this means that, oh, the Old Testament's been done away with. That's why it's called the Old Testament. I don't need the Old Testament because I'm a New Testament believer. I don't need it. It's old. And when things are old, they're bad. You know? It's wore out. It's done away with. It's been fulfilled. It's expired. I like that. It's like bad milk. You don't need it. It's going to sour on you. They say all was fulfilled with Jesus when he said, He said it is finished on the cross and the law is no longer relevant. Isn't that what we hear? Isn't that what we've been taught? But such a belief could not be farther from the truth. First of all, to understand a difficult passage in the Scriptures, we need to read it in context. Everybody say context. Context. So turn to your neighbor and say, read it in context. Read it in context. So let's read it in context. Verses 17 through 20. In reading this in context, first of all it says in verse 18, Not one jot or tittle will pass away. Now, jots and tittles, or it depends on what you believe that means from the Hebrew. Some have said yods or nakudas, which are like pronunciation marks or the smallest letter. And the tittle being something to distinguish between the other letters. Is it going to pass away? Until, what does it say? Until it's been fulfilled. But it says, until heaven and earth pass away. Not even a punctuation mark is it going to pass. So let's ask ourselves. Do we still have the earth? Do we still have the heavens? Okay, check. We got the earth. Check, we got the heavens. Well, guess what? Check. The Torah must still be for us today. That's pretty simple. Unless you've been brainwashed to believe something different. Now look at it again in context. It says, whoever therefore breaks one of these commandments, what commandments? The ones found in the law and the prophets. Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But isn't that exactly what happens today? We're told, oh, it's not important. Don't worry about that. Friends, oh, excuse me, my friends. Yeshua was quoting a Hebrew idiom when he said, I did not come to destroy the law. He was using a phrase that was easily understood during biblical times and even understood today in the Jewish synagogues and the Jewish shuls. If someone heard a Torah teacher that they didn't agree with, that person would say, oh, he's destroying the law. I don't like what he's saying. He's destroying the law. He must be mashugana. He's crazy. If they heard a teacher that they thought was giving the right interpretation, they'd say, yes, that's right. That's fulfilling the law. That's exactly right. Traditional Jewish writings support this. The Talmud says this. Should all the nations of the world unite to uproot one word of the law, they would be unable to do it. The Talmud says that the nations of the world can't even uproot one word of the Torah. Very similar to what we just read. To destroy the law does not mean that he was coming. By saying he came to fulfill the law does not mean he's done away with it. These are technical terms used by the rabbis in their arguments. When a sage felt that a colleague had misinterpreted, he would say, you're totally destroying what it means. And when they would agree, they'd say, oh, yes, you're fulfilling the law. You are interpreting it correctly. What he was saying was, do not think I've come to destroy the law. I've come to fulfill it. I've come to interpret it correctly to you. Because man has messed it up. How do we know this? What does it say? Unless your righteousness is greater than that of the scribes and the Pharisees. You see, they had messed it up. Yeshua was saying this. This is the Daniel version. Are you ready? Never imagine for a moment that I intended to abrogate the law by misinterpreting it. My intent is not to weaken or negate the Torah, but by properly interpreting Yahweh's word, I aim to establish it. I aim to make it more everlasting. But heaven and earth would sooner disappear than something from the Torah. Now, we know this, right? Not the smallest letter of the alphabet will ever disappear from the law. That's what it says. But yet, because we don't know the Hebrew idioms and the phrases, guess what? We mean, oh, when he said it is finished on the cross, that means it is done. It is done. So what does this passage really mean? This passage really means that the Torah remains for us as a standard of righteousness. As the path of the straight and narrow. Amen? Amen? Alright. So that's number one Hebrew idiom for us to look at. Let's look at Matthew chapter six. Another misunderstood idiom used by Yeshua. Matthew chapter six, verse 22, 23. You ever heard the phrase, if looks could kill, get a cold stare, squinting eyes? Envy and jealousy can be seen through the window of the eyes. Yeshua talked about this in the gospels as well. But translators don't understand it. There's an idiom in Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six, there's an idiom here. Verse 22 and 23. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness. The people who heard Yeshua speak recognized and knew exactly what he meant. An evil eye. An evil eye. If your eye is bad, if your eye is evil. Now, the Kabbalah folks teach us to wear a red string on your left hand to guard you from the evil eye. And there are those that say, oh, you know, it's superstitious, it's evil, it's bad, don't wear the red string. It's going to guard you from the evil eye. What does that mean? Does that mean if I'm wearing a red string that you're not going to look at me and squint your eyes? You're not going to look evil upon me? People who say that don't have an idea and an understanding of the Hebraic concept. What is an evil eye? Let's look at the context again. The very next verse tells us what this means. Because again, when these words were written, there were no chapters, there were no verse marks. Let's read it in context. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to see one and despise the other. You cannot serve both Yahweh and money, or mammon. In the context, when Yeshua was speaking about a bad eye, He was not talking about the need for LASIK surgery. Okay? He was not talking about bad eyesight. From the context, He was talking about greed. Everybody say greed. Greed. Remember the verse that says, you know what? If your eye is evil, you should pluck it out. Or it's better for you to go to hell, you know, go to heaven without an eye, than to go to hell with your whole body. Remember that verse? You could read that verse and say, you know what? It's okay for me to cut on myself. To cut my eye out. You know, I'm going to take it literal. If you were to take that literal, we'd all be blind. Because we all have greed for something. An evil eye is a greedy eye. He wasn't saying, pluck your eye out, because the Torah forbids you from cutting your body. From mutilating your body. The writings, the words of the rabbis explain this. Proverbs 22.9 He that hath a good eye shall be blessed, for he gives bread to the poor. So is your eye evil or is it good? The opposite is also true. If your eye is evil, you shall not be blessed, because you withhold from the poor. In the Mishnah it says, a good eye gave fortieth. The house of Shammai said, for thirtieth part, a middling one, the fiftieth, and an evil eye gave the sixtieth part. So a good eye gave thirty percent, but an evil eye gave one sixtieth. The Talmud talks about trading or dedicating or giving with a good or evil eye. A good eye and a humble spirit and a lowly soul, those that have these are disciples of our father Abraham. Think about Matthew 18.9. If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, than having two eyes and be cast into the lake of fire. If you take that verse word for word, it is in direct opposition to Deuteronomy 14.1. It says, you are the children of Yahweh, do not cut yourself. We've got to guard our eyes from wanting what other people have. Thou shalt not covet the evil eye. Let's talk about binding and loosing. Matthew 16.19. In verse 19 it says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This verse has traditionally been quoted as binding up the enemy or loosing blessings. Right? I bind the devil. I bind the devil. Okay, there's a problem here. Yahweh has let the devil be free. He doesn't bind him until the end of days. For a thousand years. And then he lets him go again. Do we really think when we say, I bind the devil, that he's putting chains on him? Think about that for a minute. The Hebrew word for bind is akar. The Hebrew word for loose is pathak. They both have several meanings. And they're often found in rabbinic literature. Do we have authority over the enemy? Yes. Do we have power over the enemy? Yes. Do we need to walk around rebuking and binding the devil 24 hours a day? No. Because that's not showing faith. If all we do is bind the devil in our faith, then... Think about it. If all you do when you pray is, oh, I bind the devil. I bind this. I bind that. If in the next few minutes you're binding it again, you're held captive by fear. You know what? Yahweh's made you victorious. Walk in his strength. Walk in his power. It says if Yahweh's for us, who can be against us? But if all we do is bind this and bind that and bind this, we're so worn down we can't give Yahweh the praise. I guarantee you, if our spiritual warfare is spent 98% praising Yahweh and thanking him, he'll do the warfare for us. I mean, what does it say in the book of Jude? It says Yahweh rebuketh thee. Now, I'm not coming against spiritual warfare. But what I'm saying is, if we're going to read this verse and take and make a whole... write a book on it, Binding and Loosing, off of this, we've got to read it in context. What is he talking about? In Hebraic concept, again, the rabbis would bind or loose things. What is bound up means that it is not allowed. If it's loose, that means it is allowed. If it's bound up, it's prohibited. Yeshua was giving Kepha, or Peter, the authority to make judgment for the congregation. Read it in context. He says, I say unto you, you are Kepha, and on this rock I will build my congregation. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatsoever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. You know what, Peter? Giving you authority to make decisions and rules for the new congregations. Isn't that what Kepha did in Acts chapter 15? Acts chapter 6? Go back and read it. But what happens is, we kind of take this as like, you know what? I'm going to loose this. I'm going to loose that. I'm sorry, folks. We don't have to loose nothing. Because you know what it says in Ephesians? It says that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. It says we are seated with Him in heavenly places. It's all been loosed. It has all been given to us. Galilee is not holding it back. We don't have to beg Him to loose it. It's already there. But what do we do have to do? We have to act on it. Now that is very different than what we hear on TV and on the radio. He's already done it. Yeshua has already done it. So what do we need to bind and loose? We bind and loose halakha, the way to walk. We say, okay, you know what? The way we're going to keep synagogue, we're going to keep Shabbat, we're going to do it this way. We're not going to allow this. But they would have a group of leaders many times, or Beit Din, three to seven rabbis that would make decisions for their group. And they would say, okay, we're going to allow this, but we're not going to allow this. Yahweh has given us victory over the enemy. And if all we do is walk around binding and loosing, we're taking our focus off of Yeshua. Yeshua should be our focus. Mark 13, 32. Mark 13, 32. Mark 13, 32. Another verse. Ooh, thou shalt not touchest this versest. Mark 13, 32. Mark chapter 13, verse 32. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed and watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is. There was a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming in the evening, at midnight, or crowing of the rooster in the morning, lest come suddenly he find you sleeping. And I say unto you all, watch. Watch. We take this verse that says no man knows the day nor the hour, and we just say, there, there you go. No man knows the day nor the hour, so I'm definitely not going to put a date on it. I'm not going to go any farther. No man knows the day nor the hour, so it's coming. The end is coming one day. That is a Hebrew idiom. It is a Hebrew idiom. Notice that he does not say thou shalt not know the month of the year. It says you don't know the day or the hour. Does it say you're not going to know the month of the year? No. It says you won't know the day or the hour. This is a Hebrew idiom. In Judaism today, you were to go to an Orthodox rabbi and say, when is the time that no man knows the day nor the hour? And the rabbi would say, oh, you're talking about Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets is the only holy day that falls on a Rosh Kodesh, on a new moon. And no man knows the day nor the hour of the new moon. Sometimes it comes on this day, sometimes it comes on that day. However, we don't hear about new moon celebrations in our Baptist churches, do we? That just sounds weird. You're worshiping the moon? No. I'm worshiping the one who made the moon, because he said to. But in reference to the Feast of Trumpets, it is called the festival that no man knows the day nor the hour. That's what it's referenced as. It's the time where the new visible crescent of the moon shines through the darkness. The statement was made by Yeshua was never meant to say that we could not know the timing of his coming in advance. I believe that he is coming back very soon on during the Feast of Trumpets. If we were to say, oh, Wanda, you can't know when Yeshua's coming back, that would conflict with many Scriptures. But most people in the contemporary church say this. Don't set dates or get distracted studying prophecy. Every other date people have given has been wrong. Remember that book, 89 Reasons Why Jesus is Coming Back in 1989? And then revised and expanded for 1990. 90 reasons why he's coming back in 1990. So they say, don't get involved in date setting. Don't get involved and do that. Are we not supposed to have an idea? Does he not want us to be ready and watching? Did he not speak of 70 weeks of Daniel? Luke 12, 56. You hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and the earth, but how is it you do not discern the times? Luke chapter 8, verse 17. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Nothing is secret. Luke 8, 17. Revelation 22, 6. I mean, are all these verses wrong, or is our understanding wrong? I think it's our understanding. Revelation, Gil Yonah, 22, 6. Revelation 22, 6. Then he said to me, these words are faithful and true, and Yahweh, Elohim of the holy prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly take place. Verse 7. Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of prophecy in this book. Are we supposed to know? Yes! Proverbs 22, 3. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. Proverbs 22, 3. A smart man, a prudent man, foresees evil and prepares himself. But the simple, or those who are unlearned, they pass on it and are punished. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 4 and 5. But ye brethren are not in darkness, but the day should overtake you as a thief of the night. For you are the children of light, the children of day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Did you hear that? You are not of darkness that you should be overtaken. We are children of the light and we should be discerning of the time. Doesn't it say in John chapter 14 that the spirit of truth will guide us into all truth? Which includes when Yeshua is coming back. You might not know the hour and you might not know the day, but we can know the season, we can know the feast, we can know the month, we can know the time. Daniel 9.23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee that thou art greatly beloved. Therefore understand the matter, consider the vision. Understand the matter and consider the vision. Now we know about the 70 weeks of Daniel. We know about the 70 weeks of Daniel. And these 70 weeks many times were pictures of years. Now this isn't a teaching on eschatology, but there is a lot for us to see and to understand as we begin to look at this. In fact we might come back to that in a few minutes. If that's alright with you. Does our regular meaning of this verse line up with other scriptures? Doesn't he say he wants us to know and be ready and be prepared? Yes! So who's wrong? Who's right? The Torah is right. What about Genesis 9.22? It's in our Torah portion this week. Bear Sheep, 9.22 We don't know the scriptures, therefore we get confused. In Genesis 9 it talks about Noah and his sons coming out of the ark. And guess what? Noah planted a vineyard. Couldn't have been Baptist because he drank of the wine. And he was drunk and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, went backwards, covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away but did not see their father's nakedness. So Noah woke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan, a servant of his servants, he shall be to his brothers. What in the world is this talking about? I mean, do we really think they had never seen their father naked? All their life? Is it a sin to see your father naked? To see someone's nakedness is a Hebrew idiom that means to have sex with that person. Specifically, it means to have sex with their wife. And if you look at this verse in context, if you look at it and compare it to Leviticus 18, it says, Do not uncover the nakedness of your father by sleeping with his wife. What if that's a Hebrew idiom? Think about that. It tells us Leviticus 18, and we've always thought, oh, he was just naked, they went in backwards. What if they were actually going, he actually laid with his Leviticus 18, the laws of sexual morality Look at verse 6. None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him to uncover his nakedness. I am Yahweh. The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of your father's wife you shall not uncover. It is your father's nakedness. The nakedness of your sister. The daughter of your father. When it says to uncover their nakedness, it means to have relationships with them. Don't believe me? The footnotes of the Spirit Filled Life Bible say to uncover his nakedness means to have sexual intercourse. That's pretty startling. That's pretty startling. That may be John 1.48. This is powerful. John 1.48. Let's look at John 1.48. In the book of John, Yeshua is seen as Yahweh and especially John chapter 1. It's a beautiful chapter. In John, Philip and Nathanael are found. Look at this in verse 47. Yeshua saw Nathanael, Nathanael, coming towards him and said, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile or deceit. Nathanael said, How do you know me? Yeshua said, Before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree I saw you. Nathanael answered and said to him, Rabbi, not preacher. He said, Rabbi, you are the son of Yahweh, Bar Enoch or Ben Elohim. You are the melek of Israel, the king of Israel. He said it was under the fig tree. That's a Hebrew idiom. It does not mean he might have been sitting under the fig tree waiting on a fig to fall. It is a Hebrew idiom. In John chapter 1, Yeshua is looking for his disciples. They didn't choose him, did they? He chose them. And Nathanael said, How do you know me? Yeshua said, I saw you under the fig tree. Nathanael recognizes exactly what that idiom means. And guess what he says? You are the son of Yahweh. You are the king of Israel. The term sitting under the fig tree is an idiom used several times in the scriptures. Look up your strongs. Look it up. In Micah chapter 4, verse 4, it says in the Messianic kingdom that every person, each person will sit under his fig tree and no one will make you afraid. You'll have time to study and to pray and be with Yahweh. You'll be sitting under the fig tree. Do you know what that means? It means that you will have a greater understanding and revelation of Yeshua as the son of Yahweh and the king of Israel. Now think about this. It's an idea of peace. Because if you're sitting under a fig tree, you're just enjoying, you're relaxing, you're enjoying Yahweh's power. In 1 Kings chapter 4, verse 25, it says that Judah and Israel lived in safety. 1 Kings 1 Kings chapter 4, verse 25. He might not have been sitting under a fig tree. This might have been a picture, a prophecy saying, you know what? Nothing else. I saw you sitting under the fig tree. I saw what you could be. And in 1 Kings chapter 4, verse 25 and Judah and Israel, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, Judah and Israel dwelt safely. Each man under his vine and his own fig tree. From Dan as far as Bethsheba, all the days of Solomon. It's an idiom about sitting in peace. It's an idiom about being one with Yahweh. In Isaiah 36.16, the Assyrian envoys tries to convince Jerusalem, hey, if you'll surrender your land will give you peace and you can sit under your own fig trees, they say. That's in Isaiah 36.16. Zechariah chapter 3 Zechariah chapter 3 verse 10, it says, in that day, guess what? That's another idiom. You've been reading in the scriptures of the prophets, it says in that day or on that day, it's talking about the messianic reign when Yeshua comes back. In that day, declares Yahweh, every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree. So Yeshua said to Nathaniel, hey, you're a righteous man. He saw him in the future in the messianic kingdom sitting under the fig tree. And Yeshua said, I saw you. And maybe Nathaniel knew what that meant and he said, you know what? You're right. Maybe Nathaniel knew what that meant and he said, I am going to follow you to the messianic kingdom. Now, he could have been sitting under a fig tree as well. We don't know. But this is an idiom. This is a picture again for us to see. And how did Nathaniel fulfill those words? He said, he said, I saw you sitting under the fig tree, which means sitting in peace and shalom under Yahweh's blessings. And then Nathaniel says, you are the king of Israel. You are the son of Yahweh. Let's look at one last passage, Matthew 19, 24. Verse 23. Let's read it in context. Everybody say context. Verse 23. Then Yeshua said to his disciples, assuredly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Yahweh. The camel through the eye of a needle. The camel through the eye of a needle. This is what I was taught about this verse. I was taught that in Jerusalem there was a small area for animals to pass through to get into the gates. That was called the needle gate. That's what I was taught. The camel could not enter Jerusalem unless it first stooped and had all of its baggage removed. And after dark, when the main gates in Jerusalem were shut, travelers or merchants would use the smaller gate so the camel could not only enter but they could crawl in their knees. Great sermon material. That's what I was taught. And it's been around since the 9th century. When some of the Catholic priests started speaking about that. But there is no evidence for such a gate. No record has been found. So is this an idiom? Or is it a bad translation? How about B? This opens up a whole new can of worms. It's a bad translation. So what does Yeshua really mean? Here's a version I found. I thought this was pretty good. Mark 10 25. It is easier for a large rope to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Yahweh. The word Gemallah means rope in Hebrew. Gemallah means rope in Hebrew. What's camel? Gemal or gemal or gemel. They are spelled exactly the same. The Hebrew word for rope has a different punctuation marks for vowel points, but they are spelled exactly the same as camel. So when the translators got there, they decided, oh that means camel. Not thinking about how in the world can a camel go through the eye of a needle. He's talking about greed. It's a lot harder for a thick rope to go through the eye of a needle. So with idioms and things that look like idioms, we've got to study. We've got to read. There are no contradictions in the Scriptures. It is all there for us in plain sight. Yahweh wants to reveal His word for us. And to us. So as we look to the Scriptures, as we look to study, we've got to be open to say, you know what? It's not enough for me to read. I need to study. I need to ask the Spirit to reveal this to me. I need to look at the culture. Because just as you say, hey, I've got to eat my words, there are many phrases in our Bible that are only understood when we understand the terms and the times of Israel. Thank you again for listening to the Finding Emet radio program. Please visit our website to learn more about the Emet, the truth of the Scriptures. Search the Bible. Submit your prayer request. Or read an article on various subjects. The website is www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Or write to us at Emet Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, South Carolina, 29108. That's Emet Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, South Carolina, 29108. Thank you again for listening to Finding Emet with Daniel Rendlin. May you find the Emet, and may the Emet, may the truth, set you free. www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com www.findemet.com