Living Letters Ayin

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 ministry of Brother Daniel Rentalman of Emet Ministries. They emphasize the importance of using correct Hebrew names, such as Yahshua and Yahweh, and understanding the meaning behind Hebrew letters. The Ayin, the 16th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is discussed in detail, highlighting its significance as the "eye" and the importance of controlling our senses in the pursuit of holiness. The program references Psalm 119 and Genesis 3 to illustrate these concepts. 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 Rentalman 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 Rentalman, as he helps us find the Emet. Hello and welcome again to our teaching and our teaching series on Hebrew, the living letters. This is just a continuation of this series as we're going through the Hebrew alphabet, the alephbet, and looking at the various letters, what they mean, and the message that the Almighty, the Creator has for us through His letters. Again, let me remind you that the Hebrew language is heavenly. It is a special language. It is the language of creation. It is the language that the Almighty created the world. It is the language that the angels spoke as they said, You shall name Him Yahshua, for He shall save His people from their sins. You notice the angels didn't give the Savior's name to be Jesus. That's an English name. They gave Him a Hebrew name, Yahshua. So today during this teaching, we're going to be using that name. You might have heard that during the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ. We're going to say it, Yahshua, Yahshua, Yahoshua. That is His name. And we're also going to be using the sacred name of Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, pronounced I believe Yahweh or Yahuwah. And that is the name that is found in your English Bibles whenever you see it all capitalized in L-O-R-D or all capitalized G-O-D. The translators are telling you over 7,000 times in the Bible that this is a special word, this is a special name, this is the name of the Creator, the Redeemer, this is Yahweh, the one who revealed His name at the burning bush. And so we know that these names have meaning. We know that it's good and it's important to use the correct Hebrew names, and there's many teachings out there about this. And if it's good and important for the Hebrew names of the Creator, how much more so for the rest of the Bible? How much more so do we need to recognize the letters and what they mean? Now, this doesn't mean that you need to be fluent in Hebrew. That can't hurt your study, but many of us, because of our language or different issues, we're not fluent in Hebrew. So what do we do? Well, we at least need to be familiar with the letters and familiar with the message that the Creator wants to share with us through His letters because it is amazing, it is quite fascinating to see what all Abba Yahweh has for us through these letters. So we're going to continue the teaching series. All of these teachings are available on the EMET Ministries website, that's www.emetministries.com. As we've gone through the Aleph, Bet, Gemel, Dalet, Hay, Bav, Zayachit, Tet, Yod, Qaf, Lamed, Mem, Nun, Samech, and that leads us to this next letter of the alphabet, of the Aleph, Bet, which is the Ayin or the Ayin, it can be pronounced both ways, different people say it differently, the Ayin or the Ayin, and that's going to be our topic of discussion today. This is the 16th letter in the Hebrew alphabet, so we are coming to the conclusion of this series. It is the number 70, as the first 10 letters are 1 through 10, the next are 10 through 100 or so, and we also know that King David, Melech Dawid, spoke about these Hebrew letters as he wrote a beautiful poem in Psalm 119 about the Torah, about the Law of Yahweh, the Law of Moses, and as he did this, he made that each of these 7 or 8 verses as they went through began with a different Hebrew letter. So if you begin with Psalm 119 verse 1, they all begin with Aleph, and then Bet, and Gemel, but if you look here, verses 21 through 28 begin with the Ayin or the Ayin, and here's what it says, this is Psalm 119 to Helaman 19 verse 121 through 128. I have done judgment and justice, lead me not to mine oppressors. Be surety for thy servant for good, let not the proud oppress me. But I fail for thy salvation, for the word of thy righteousness. Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy, teach me thy statutes. I am your servant, give me understanding that I may know your testimonies. It is time for thee, Yahweh, to work, for they have made void thy Torah. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yes, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all your precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way. What a beautiful section, what a beautiful few verses there from Psalm 119 verses 121 through 128, and they begin with the Ayin, each of these sentences, and they begin in 121 with I have done judgment and justice. Hebrew is much more like hieroglyphics than English in the extent or in the understanding that each letter is a picture. Each letter is more than just a letter. You know in English we have a B, it's just a D. We have a D, it's just a D. But in Hebrew each of these letters is a picture, it's a word picture, it has great meaning and depth. And originally when the Ayin was written, it was written as an I, as an I, like something you would see through E-Y-E, it was written as an I, that's how the Ayin was written. And so it tells us a story, if you look at the modern version of the Ayin, if you look at the modern drawing or writing of the Ayin, you see that it has retained some of this meaning of a face. You can see clearly two eyes and a nose, originally was an I, you can see it here as an I. Now, it's important to note that the word for I in Hebrew is Ayin as well, and we use the I to see with, to see the natural with. The Scriptures say it's the windows of our soul, and the I is used throughout the Bible, it's a key theme and it's a part of the human experience. You see we have five senses that we use throughout our day to receive messages from our environment. We touch, we taste, we hear, we smell, and we see, and we have an understanding of what's going on around us. And this I, this Ayin, our Ayins, our eyes that we see through, it is a battlefield that has to be won. And as we read in Psalm 119, we can get an idea and a picture of this that David, King David was saying that, you know, I'm trying, but my eyes fail for thy salvation, for the word of thy righteousness. You know, life is a lot about peaks and valleys and ups and downs, plateaus and trials, and there are times where we could agree with David that our eyes just fail for the salvation of Yahweh, to see His arm come through for us. And many times that's because we're looking with the wrong set of eyes, we're looking with our physical eyes when we need to be looking with our spiritual eyes. You know, the Jewish rabbis have told us that, how do you decide who is a righteous person and who is a wicked person? And they've said this, that a righteous person has their flesh under control, while the wicked person is controlled by their flesh, or the Yetzir HaRa, or their five senses. Again, what we hear, what we see, what we touch, what we taste, what we smell, many people live by this existence. All they do is they focus on those five senses, bringing joy and pleasure to that. That's where gluttony comes from, that's where fornication and adultery comes from, that's where so many sins of pride, and you can just name sins and it all goes back to the five senses and these five areas, these five gates that we must control. These are battlegrounds that must be conquered on our way to holiness. Let me say that again, the five senses are battlegrounds, the five senses are battlegrounds that must be conquered on our way to holiness. And that's so important that you understand that today, that the I in the eyes. Now the Word tells us in the book of Ephraim, in the book of Hebrews, chapter 5, verse 14, it says that strong meat, the strong meat of the Word belongs to those who have exercised their senses to discern between both good and evil. If you want the strong meat of the Word, if you're tired of the milk, if you're tired of the easy stuff, the elementary teachings, and you feel like you're ready to go forward, you want to know more, you're in a dry place in your faith, you want to come out of that rut, you want revival, you want life, you want sustenance, you want abundance in your faith, well then you must take Hebrews 5, verse 14 and enact it, enable it. Strong meat and abundant spiritual life belongs to those who have exercised their senses to determine between both good and evil, exercise is one of the words used there, that our senses must be exercised, they must be used properly to discern, to determine, to call a distinction between what is told and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil. You see, not everything you see is good, not everything you hear is good, not everything you smell is good, through the eyes, through the gates of our souls, through these openings, we are tempted. We have to understand this, this is temptation, this is where they come from, through these gates and through the eye and we can see this through the picture of the eye, in fact, we'll go more in detail about that in a few minutes. Turn with me now to Genesis chapter 3, and in Genesis chapter 3, we see here about some of the original sins that took place in the Ganidon, in the Garden of Eden, and in Genesis chapter 3, verses 4 through 8, And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for Elohim does know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat, and the eyes of them both were opened, and the eyes, the eye-in of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons, and they heard the voice of Yahweh Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh amongst the trees of the gardens. This perhaps is one of the saddest passages in all of the Bible, and yet we see here that the five senses are conquering Adam and Eve. It begins in verse 4, where the serpent said unto the woman, so she heard him, then she said, he said, Your eyes shall be opened, your eyes, you could see it, and then she looked at the fruit, it was pleasant to the eyes, it was desired to make one wise, and it looked good to eat, and their eyes were opened, and they saw that they were naked and were ashamed. You see, however, Eve saw that the fruit was good, and she desired it, she wanted it, she coveted it. You know, many people say that the sin was pride in the beginning, or the sin was this, the sin was that. I believe the first sin was, of course, disobedience to Yahweh's will, but that was through coveting. Coveting something you don't have, which you really don't need in the first place. Coveting. Look around today, look at America today, and tell me that that's not one of the major sins that plagues the world. Coveting. Oh, I need a big screen TV, because John's got a big screen, well, I need a 60 inch, because John's got a 58 inch, I need this new car, I need, I need, I need, and notice the Hebrew word, I, is I need, I need, begins with the I in. We have to be so careful that when we look around in this world, we don't see things to covet after. Some people covet after ministries. Oh, I want that ministry, I want to do that, I want this, I want that. Some people covet after things. We need to be careful and we need to guard ourselves from this, and how do we do that? It's through seeing and spiritual eyes, it's through understanding that this is one area that sin will come about us. Wisdom here. Coveting is desiring something that is not yours, that's someone else's. This is the danger of the I in, of this letter, is to desire what we see. And as we look at this I in, and as we look at this letter today, we need to truly think about this in our hearts and in our lives. You see, it's one thing for us just to learn a language. It's one thing for us just to say, you know, I'm just going to learn a language and see what I can learn from here and, you know, just kind of go from there. I'm just going to learn Hebrew and that way I can get along, you know, when I go to Israel or when I go visit or I can know more than other people. You know, that's one thing to learn a language. And that's a good thing, you know, to be able to speak Hebrew fluently or Spanish or heck, to be able to speak English is nice. But it's another thing when we look to the living letters of Yahweh's Hebrew Oliphant that we truly receive the message that Yahweh has for us. It's not just the language, it is living letters that Yahweh has for us. And so as we look at this I in today, let us really pause and see if we're in a similar situation. You see, Joshua was, Yahoshua was, the Israelites were, as they first went to conquer Jericho. And I want you to think for a minute, how did they conquer Jericho? How was Jericho conquered? Was it by the might of their army? Was it by their tanks? Was it their drones that flew in? No. They conquered Jericho with the shout, with the sound of a shofar. By taking one of their five senses, honing it in and using it for Yahuwah. You have to understand that. You have to see that to get the message of the I in. Because they were able to take Jericho, to overcome this huge obstacle in front of them by shouting and sounding the shofar. Now the next city that was on their list here, the next city that they were going to conquer was a city, by the way, that begins with the letter I in. This is, if you're reading your English Bible, what's considered to be the city of Ai, A-I, A-I. And in Joshua chapter 7, you see that they're coming to this city. They survey the land and it looks to their eye and to their eye is weak. Joshua chapter 7, Yahoshua chapter 7. The children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. Abraham, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Yehudah, from the tribe of Judah, took up the accursed thing and the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethan, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up, view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said unto him, Ah, let not all the people go up, but just send two or three thousand men and smite Ai, and make all the people to labor here, for they are but few. So they went up hither of the people, about three thousand men, and they fled before the men of Ai. The men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men, and they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water. And Yahoshua and Joshua rent his clothes, verse 6, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Yahweh, until the even tide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Adonai Yahweh, wherefore thou hast brought his people over Jordan, over the Jordan, to deliver us to the land, to the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that have been content and drunk on the other side of the Jordan? O Yahweh, what shall I say when Israel turns their backs before thy enemies? Here they surveyed the land, and the land looked weak. He said, Don't even send the whole army. Don't send the nation of Israel. Just send two or three thousand, and you'll win. They looked at the land, and they said, We got it. It's easy. These people are weak. And yet they were defeated. Isn't Yahweh on their side? Think about it, though. This is the Israelites. They had just won a battle with shofars. They didn't have to walk in there with tanks. They won a battle with shofars. Why is it they can't take just a couple thousand? Now they couldn't win with the weapons? What happened? They had just won with shofars. As we find out, as we read in the scriptures, as we read the story, we see that there is sin in the camp. There is sin in the camp. Joshua chapter 7, verses 20 through 22, And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, and thus I have done. For I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, a wedge of gold of fifty shekels' weight. I coveted them and took them, and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and silver under it. And Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took him out of the midst of the garden, and brought him unto Joshua, and unto the children of Israel, and laid them before Yahweh. And Joshua, and all of Israel with him, took Achan, the son of Zerub, the silver, the garments, the wedge of gold, the sons, the daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought it to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, Why did you trouble us? Yahweh shall trouble thee this day. And all of Israel stoned him with stones, burned them with fire, after they had stoned him with stones." Hmm, what a, what a story we read here, that there was sin in the camp. For when they had conquered Jericho, the loot, the booty, was supposed to be for the temple. It was supposed to be set aside, yet someone had seen it and taken it. Now, get this. Look at verse 21, Joshua 7, verse 21, when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment. He took gold, he took silver, he took the garments, he coveted, that was his sin. Someone had seen it and had taken it, and you need to get this lesson today, friend. Because of this sin, they were defeated. The sin of covetedness led to the defeat of not just Achan, not just Joshua, but the entire army of Israel. The entire army of Israel. We need to be so careful. And notice what he saw, what he coveted for, in Joshua chapter 7, verse 21, I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment, a Babylonian garment. You see, we're no different today. We see the Babylonian garments out in the world, and we say, yeah, I need to hang on to that. That's what I need. Now, we know that Babylon is a picture of the sin in the world, of the world's religions of Satan. Babylon, of course, was a place of Nimrod, a place of false worship, the Babylonian system. Oh, Babylon the Great during the end of days. And yet, we are just like Achan. Don't think here that you're better than Achan or Achan. That we see it, and we say, oh, I want that, and it might be garments that the Babylonians wear. You know, I want to wear that, because I don't have to wear tzitzit with it. It might be music. Oh, but I like that music. So what if it's got profanity, and, you know, it breaks a couple of the commandments? So what if it curses Yahweh? I want to listen to it. Oh, well, I'm going to watch that movie. You know, so what if it's got fornication and adultery live and on screen? I'm an adult. I can handle it. We see Babylon, and we want it. Oh, there's nothing wrong with that Christmas tree or Easter eggs. Oh, come on. I can go to church on Sunday and keep the mitzvot, keep the Torah. Babylonian garments that many people are still attracted to. Letting go. And yet, we forget that it says in the book of Corinthians, it says, therefore, come out from among them, says Yahweh, and be ye set apart. Touch not the unclean thing. Don't even touch it. Don't be tempted with that gate. Don't look at it. Don't touch it. And also notice that it was aching to sin, yet it affected the whole body, the whole family, the whole nation of Israel. You might just think that you can log on to a website and watch or see some pornographic pictures. It's okay. You're an adult or this or that. Your eyes are seeing that, and it's affecting you because of that sin of coveting. It's going to bring defeat into your life, and it's going to affect the life of the believers around you and the nation of Israel. Our sins have an effect upon us and upon other people. Achan took the gold. He took the garments. He took the silver. Eyes. Ayan. What can we learn from the Ayan? The eyes see that they want. There's the sin. Then there's defeat. Achan is taken away and stoned, not just Achan, but he and his family, he and his animals and his possessions. Let me tell you this, friend. When covetousness becomes a problem for someone, it affects them. It affects their family. It affects their belongings. It's time that we realize that we don't need that stuff. We're just passing through. It's one thing to be healthy. It's one thing to eat right. It's one thing to exercise and to look nice. It's another thing to make your body a god and to focus solely on even health or exercise. That can become what you covet. We have sins all around us. Knowledge can become our covet. Oh, we want to be knowledgeable. We want to have all this knowledge. We want to know what the Word says, and yet that can become our area of sin because we covet even that. That is why we are warned against the evil eye, against the evil eye. You see, there are many Hebrew idioms in the Bible, in the Scriptures. In fact, there's a teaching on our Emet Ministries website on the Hebrew idioms. There are many Hebrew idioms in the Scriptures, and one of those is the evil eye. We are warned against the evil eye in Proverbs 22, 9. Proverbs 22, 9, and we see that people can have and we can even be tempted with an evil eye. Proverbs 22, verse 9. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he gives bread unto the poor. He that hath a good eye shall be blessed, because he gives bread unto the poor. Cast out the scorner, contention shall go out. Strife and reproach shall cease is the next verse there. Now, this verse tells us that a good eye will lead to a person giving to the poor. Now turn to Matthew, chapter 6, in the words of our Master, Yeshua, when he clarifies what that evil eye is as well in Matthew, chapter 6, verse 23. But if that eye is evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how much greater is the darkness? No man can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve Yahweh and money. You cannot serve Yahweh and what you covet, what you desire. It's greed, it's jealousy. We have to be careful that our eyes aren't looking out and saying, ooh, I want that. That's something that I need. We need to be satisfied with what we have and be casting our cares and our eyes to the hills of Yahweh and looking to see what He has for us, looking to see what Yahweh has for us. So what happened? What happened to Joshua? What happened to this battle? Did they just lose and go home and leave, or did they get things right, turn things around and change the future? Let's look at Joshua chapter 8, which by the way, 8 is a number of new beginnings of new life. And here in Joshua chapter 8, Yahweh said unto Yahushua, verse 1, Fear not, neither be dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee, arise, go up to Ai, see, I have given it into thy hand, the king of Ai and his people and the city and his land, and here's what you are to do. Do as you did unto Jericho and their king, only the spoil thereof, the cattle thereof shall you take for praying to yourselves, lay an ambush for the city behind it. So Joshua and the people of war rose up against Ai, and Joshua chose 30,000 men of valor and set them away at night. He commanded them, Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behold against the city, do not go very far from the city, but ye shall be ready. And so they set up this ambush, and they began to fight against the people of Ai. They began to come against the people of Ai, and they began to have victory. Verse 15, Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them and fled by the way of the wilderness. They set this ambush and acted like they were losing, and all the people that were night called together to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua, were drawn away to the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel that went out against Israel. They left the city open, pursued. So here they do. They take the ambush, the great story in Joshua chapter 8. They leave the city of Ai, and guess what? When they're going after them, Joshua and the Israelites enter into the city, and they set the city on fire. When Joshua and Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and the smoke of the city ascended, they turned again, and then they slew the men of Ai. And so they went against the people, and if you look at verse 23, something's very important with the Ayan. And the king of Ai, they took alive and brought him to Joshua. They took the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua. After they had killed the people, after they had won the battle, after they had burned the city. Now what did they do with the king of Ai? Do they leave him alone? Do they let him live? Do they stone him? Interesting to see what happens to the king of Ai. And in Joshua chapter 8, verse 29, and the king of Ai, Joshua took and hung on a tree until the evening. As soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded they should take his carcass down from the tree and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stone that remains until this day. Joshua built an altar in the Yahweh in Mount Ebal. They took the king of Ai, the king of covetousness, the king of the sin, and they put him on a tree and he died there. As a sign, as a witness, as an example, we know that the word says in Deuteronomy, cursed is any man that hangs on a tree. And we also know that our King, Master, Mariah, Yahshua, did the same thing for us, so that we would not have to be a slave to the sins of what we see, what we touch, what we taste, what we smell, what we hear. And he died upon a tree as he was killed, as he was crucified. He gave his life. It was even written above him, Yeshua HaMashiach, the Melech HaYahudim, Yeshua, King of the Jews. Above his head it was written. And he was there showing us, giving us power over sin. And it was prophesied in Joshua chapter 8. This was a different scenario. They won because there was no sin in the camp. The ayin is a picture for us to cleanse our bodies, to cleanse our hearts, to cleanse our lives of sin. That is an area of concern. Think about it. Eve looked and wanted to taste the fruit. Noah's son looked upon nakedness and was cursed. Lot's wife looked back and was cursed. David saw Bathsheba. The ten spies saw the land as too hard to conquer. Time and time and time again we see the danger of the eye. Don't think you're above it. Because we're just one slip, we're just one fall, we're just one sin away from losing what we have. So let me ask you, how do we conquer it? We see that Yeshua did it for us 2,000 years ago when he died upon the tree, just like the King of Ai did. But how do we conquer sin? How do we defeat the desires of the flesh? How do we defeat the lust of what we see? Because it's hard. It's difficult. Let's be honest here, when there's a gallon of chocolate ice cream in the freezer, that's got me. And I'll just tell you right now, it's got me. It keeps calling, Daniel, Daniel, come eat me. Not just a spoonful, not just a bowl, all of me, I need to be empty. The carton calls my name, and it is wrong, because I go and I gorge myself. And yet that's a funny picture of the chocolate ice cream, but yet that's our world around us. Drive down the road, you have billboards calling you, buy this, do this, come see this, look at that. Put on the radio, commercials, music, put on the TV, go shopping, walk down the road, anything. And all around us, all of these messages are there, calling out to us. How do we conquer it? How do you stop visiting websites that you shouldn't be on? How do you stop saying things with your mouth that you shouldn't be saying? How do you stop eating when you've had enough? How do you stop listening to gossip? How do you stop listening to the evil speech? How do you stop doing things with your body that are prohibited in the Scripture? How do we conquer sin? How do we do what Eve could not do? I believe an answer for us is in Deuteronomy, chapter 6. Deuteronomy, chapter 6. They came to Yeshua, we know, in the book of Mark, chapter 10, and they said, what is the greatest commandment? And he quoted a passage from Deuteronomy, chapter 6. He said, Sh'ma Yisrael, Yahweh Eloheinu, Yahweh our God. Sh'ma Yisrael, Yahweh is our Elohim, Yahweh is one, and you shall love Yahweh thy Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your might. He was quoting Deuteronomy, chapter 6. It says, And these words which I command you this day shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently unto your children. You shall talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates. How do we conquer sin? How do we stop the five senses from winning the flesh? It's right here. Take the words which Yahweh has commanded us, and it says, verse 8, You shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. We need to take the commandments of Yahweh, the loving instructions, and put them between our eyes. We need to get it. Now what's between your eyes? Not your nose, but your brain. Your brain is there. In fact, if you look at the ion, if you look at how the ion is designed, how it's written, similar to a Y, but it's also a picture of the optical chasma. You see, there's a nerve center right between your eyes, and your eyes are attached to this nerve ending that leads, this optical chasma is a nerve center that gets and gives visual impulses right behind your eyes. If you were to look at how that's designed inside of your brain, inside of your body, it looks exactly like an ion. It looks exactly like an ion. We have to take the mitzvot and put them between our eyes, in our brain, and when we see something, when we smell something, when we touch something, when we hear something, when we say something, we are reminded of what the Torah says. Today, many Jewish people take this commandment and they fulfill it by a wrapping or the binding of the tefillin. You've heard of the phylacteries, and it's these leather boxes that have this commandment and other verses written inside them, and they wrap it upon their forehead and upon their arms, and they daven, they pray, but they don't walk around all day like that. They only do that a couple times a day, and they do that as a symbolic of this commandment. Others wear talits, which is the prayer shawls with the zip-zip on the four corners, and you can notice when you put a prayer shawl over your head, there's a blessing in Hebrew written on the crown or the banner of the talit that falls on your forehead. That is yet another way that you can physically do this. Physically put the commandment between your eyes. I want to challenge you today not just to physically do that with zip-zip and with tefillin and with a talit, but to physically do that with the knowledge of the Word, with the maturity and a memorization of the Word. You know, children, as they go to Sunday school or as they go to Torah class or Shabbat school, they are taught to memorize the Word. They're given a verse and say, okay, John 3, 16, Genesis 1, 1, memorize this, and you come back next week, you're going to get a Tootsie Pop if you memorize this. And somewhere from the Sunday school to the Shabbat service or from the Sunday school to the adulthood, we've lost the desire, the right, the privilege to memorize Yahweh's Word. When it says to put it between your eyes, it means to put it in the thickness of your brain. Memorize His Word. Let His Word be written upon your heart. You're never going to memorize the Word by casually reading. You're never going to memorize the Word by thinking about memorizing it. You've got to do it. Put it there. Remember what Yahweh says. I suggest getting some index cards. Write the verse on it. Put it before you at your mirror. Put it before you in your car. Put it before you in your billfold. And everywhere you turn, you see that verse. Think about it. Meditate on it. Pray about it. Write it down 30 times until you get it. And take that verse that you are memorizing in your mind. Put it before you in your car. Put it before you in your billfold. And everywhere you turn, you see that verse. Think about it. Meditate on it. Pray about it. Write it down 30 times until you get it. And take that verse that you are memorizing and use it for battle. Because Yeshua said, it is written. It is written. It is written. That's how He battled the tempter. And we think we can do any different? We sit around and say, oh, well, I know it's written somewhere in there. I know. It's in the Bible. It is written, Yeshua said. So we need to take the Word to defeat sin and put it between our eyes. You've heard that phrase, in my mind's eye, I've seen it. We need to see it. And if you have a certain sin or a certain area of sin of compromise, perhaps it's in eating where you don't follow Yahweh's clean foods. You don't eat the clean foods that's spoken of in Leviticus chapter 11 and throughout the Scriptures. And you're tempted by pork, maybe, pork chops. Maybe you just love pork chops. You just smell the pork chop and you go crazy. You've got to have it. You've got to say no. You need to take your mind's eye and bring it under subjection. This is what maturity is. Bring it under subjection and imagine yourself for a moment going to eat at a friend's house or going to eat at your house and someone's cooking pork chops. And you smell it and you see yourself saying no. Visualize saying no. Visualize turning away. Visualize what the Word says. For men shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of Yahweh. And then when you are tempted in that area, you will overcome. Remember Hebrews chapter 5 verse 14. Strong meat belongs to those who have exercised their senses to determine between both good and evil. Strong meat, the good meat, the great part of the Word. And yet what do we do? We go to a grocery store. I've got to look around. And I don't know about you, but I always end up on the aisle of the candy and the goodies and the sweets because that's my temptation area and that's what I want. Speaking of looking around, I heard about this blind guy and he's got a seeing eye dog who walks into a grocery store and he walks to the middle of the store. Really strange. He picks up the dog by its tail and starts swinging the dog around in circles over his head. Just starts swinging the dog. The store manager has seen all this, thinks it's quite strange, so he decides to find out what's going on. He comes up to the blind man. The blind man is still swinging the dog around. He says, pardon me sir, can I help you with something? Can I help you find something? The blind man, of course, says, ah, no thanks. I'm just looking around. Sorry. Couldn't help myself. A little humor there is okay. A little humor is okay. But when we fill our life with trash or junk, then we're in trouble. A little bit of entertainment is okay. It's okay to have fun. It's okay to enjoy life. But when your life is centered around certain areas, that's where we must be mature. Now we said earlier that the ion is the number 70. It's the gematria of the ion. It's the number 70. 70 is the number of maturity. 70 years. 70 represents a person in full control of their emotions. Does that not picture Yeshua? In full control of his emotions. You see, the word tells us that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. John chapter 1, verse 17. What word became flesh? The literal Hebrew word, the Hebrew letters became flesh and dwelt among us. Yeshua was full of maturity. He is his ion. And we know that the ion is one of the letters that make up Yeshua's wonderful name. If you look at the name of Yahweh, it's Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. If you look at Yeshua, which is his true Hebrew name, it's Yod-Heh-Vav-Shin-Ion. Some people take out the He. I believe it was there. Some people take it out. It was Yod-Heh-Vav-Shin-Ion. Yahshua or Yahoshua. In Matthew 1, verse 21, it says, You shall call him Yahshua, for he shall save his people from their sins. The name of salvation. This ion is one of the letters of Yahweh's, of Yeshua's name. Now notice this. The only difference between Yeshua's name and Yahweh's name is the Shin and the ion. It's Yod-Heh-Vav-Shin-Ion. Yahweh's name is Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. The only difference between Yahweh and Yahshua in the spelling of their names is the Shin and the ion. Now we know in Yahweh's name that the Yod, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, the Yod is a picture of a hand, of a hand. The Yod or the Hebrew word for hand is Yod or Yod-Yim for hands. It's a picture of a hand. We know that the He means to behold. It means to look. It means just to think about, to behold like the picture of a window. We know that the Vav is symbolic of a hook or a nail. We can see this that in Yahweh's name it means to behold the hands, the nail scarred hands. Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. The hands were pierced by the nails. That's what it tells us. Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. The hands, behold the nail scarred hands. That's what Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh means. Well what about the Shin and the ion? If Yod-Heh-Vav-Shin-Ion spells Yahshua's name, what does that mean? What is the meaning here for us in that? Now the Shin is a Hebrew letter that looks like a W in modern English. And you might not be familiar with this. It's a symbol of teeth like a molar in the back of your mouth. You would have there. In fact, the modern Hebrew word for tooth is Shin. That's the modern Hebrew word for tooth. And what is the modern Hebrew word for eye? That would be ion as we've talked about today in this teaching. The ion. So in the Shin is a picture of a tooth. The ion is a picture of an eye. Now think about what do you know in the scriptures about eyes and teeth? Exodus 21, listen to this. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life. Ion for ion. Eye for eye. Shin for shin. Tooth for tooth. Hand for hand. Foot for foot. Burning for burning. Wound for wound. Stripe for stripe. And if a man strikes the eye of his servant, the eye of his maid, and it perishes, let him go free for his eye's sake. Here it talks about justice for an unborn child. If you look at verse 22 of Exodus 21. Justice. Eye for an eye. It says eye for an eye. An ion for an ion. A tooth for a tooth. You see the Torah, the letter of the law, calls for justice. What does it say in Romans? It says the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is not reincarnation. The wages of sin is not grace. The wages of sin is not another chance. The wages of sin is not infant baptism. The wages of sin is death. The letter of the law calls for Gevurah. It calls for justice. It calls for judgment. And yet the spirit of the law calls for Chesed, for grace, for favor. Yeshua is the full balance of the Torah. He is the full balance of Gevurah and Chesed. Of justice and mercy. Because Yeshua saved us. From judgment, from sin, from justice. John 1.17 says, The Torah was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth. Yeshua took away our sins upon Himself. He became a curse of the Torah. The curses of the law were put upon Him. Your judgment, my judgment for sin was placed upon Him. You see, the law, the Torah calls for an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The law says that if you sin, you deserve judgment. Eternal destruction. And this law was satisfied with Yeshua. How do we spell His name? Yod, he, vav, sheen, ayin. Yod, the hand. He, behold. Vav, the nail. Sheen, the tooth. Ayin, the eye. Yod, he, vav, sheen, ayin. Behold, the nail scarred hand that paid the price. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The nail scarred hand that took away the sin, that bore the shame, that by His stripes we are healed. Who took that and nailed to the cross, or nailed to the execution stake, our Torah obedience. Every few months I get questioned and asked about Colossians chapter 2 verse 14. Verse 13 it says, And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, have He quickened together with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross or to His stake, and having spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing them over them in it. People say, that just means the law was nailed to the cross. No, it doesn't. That's not what it says. It says that He took the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, contrary to us, took it out of the way and nailed it to His stake. The Torah is for us, not against us. He took that list. He took our Torah disobedience and He nailed it to His tree. The eye for an eye is what the word calls for. Tooth for a tooth. If your child hits you, stone them. You catch someone in adultery, they ought to be stoned. He took these harsh, what we consider to be harsh, words, and He took our disobedience to them and the judgment that we should have received and He went to the tree for us. We've each coveted. We've each lied. We've each stolen. We've each taken the name of Yahweh in vain. We've not kept the Sabbath properly. We've not loved our neighbors as we love ourselves. We have not loved Yahweh. We've not memorized His word and the list could go on and on and on. We are no better than Achan. Don't fool yourself there. And yet, Yeshua took our sin. He gave His life for us so that we could live so that we could have eternal life. Praise Yahweh for that. And we know this. But we've got to be careful about what we know because that can be a weapon too. Our eyes see Him. But many people still do not see Him. They are still blind to what He has done. In 2 Corinthians 3 verses 14 and 16 But their minds were blinded for until this day remains the same veil unremoved in the reading of the Old Testament which veil is done away in the Messiah. But even until this day when Moses has read that veil is upon their hearts nevertheless when it shall turn to Yahweh the veil shall be taken away. 2 Corinthians 3 14-16 The veil is taken away when a person turns to Yahweh. We should not sit in judgment. We should not sit in anger to those that do not see clearly what we see. We should pray for them. We should love them. We should help them. We should pray clearly the veil is upon their heart. Their minds were blinded until the day remains when Yahweh will take away the veil. It's not my job. It's not your job. Yahweh will do it. We are there to shine the light. There are many Jewish people that are blind to the fact that Yeshua is the Messiah. There are many in the prime identity as Israel and who Yeshua truly is. Many are blind that He gave His life as what Torah obligated. Many are blind to the fact that He was the Word made flesh. Why are they blind? Because their eyes are veiled. Their eyes are veiled. We need to pray for them. Indeed, there are some in the Orthodox circles community that are so blind to Yeshua that they take out the ayin from His name. Did you know that? They don't want to call Him Yeshua because they kind of have a picture. They have an idea. Wait a minute. That's Jehoshua? That's Yahweh's name plus the sheen and the ayin? It makes sense to them. So what do they do? They take out the ayin in His name and they call Him Yeshu. Yeshu which is an acronym for them which stands for may His name be profaned Yeshu Yod-Heh-Vav-Sheen which stands for may stay in the grave. See they're blind. Many in Judaism are blind to who Messiah Yeshua truly is. We pray for them. And there are many in Ephraim, many in the world today, not of a Jewish seed but of a seed of faith. Maybe they call upon Jesus. They don't recognize the true name of Yeshua. They don't recognize that He paid the price for the sin. That all of these sins that they're struggling with that He offers them salvation and abundance and freedom. We try the 40 days of purpose or the latest evangelical slogan and it just doesn't bring meaning to their life. They're blind and we need to pray for them as well that Yahweh would open their eyes for all of the loss that their eyes would be open. Zechariah 12 10 makes it very clear that we are to pray for their eyes to be open for all who do not know Yeshua as master as the living Torah. Zechariah 12 10 And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication that they shall look upon me with their eye in whom they have pierced. They shall mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him and bitterness for his first born. There are people in your life that aren't open to the true Yeshua as revealed in Genesis and Revelation and we need to pray that their eyes would be open they would look upon whom they have pierced by their Torah transgression and we need to love them and we need to stand with them and we need to serve them and we need to watch the blinders be removed from their eyes Friend, I believe that there are many out there that persecute Torah keepers and they think they're doing God's will they don't like what we may stand for what we may teach, what we believe and just like Paul Saul, whatever you want to call him he was going around persecuting the believers even in the synagogues even in the churches you could say today he was going around persecuting believers and yet remember the story of what happened to Saul he was riding along the road one day and he came face to face with Yeshua and you know what the book of Acts says that he spoke to him in his tongue in his native tongue is what the book of Acts says that Paul heard the voice of Yahweh in Hebrew and he said Shaul, Shaul why do you persecute me he heard the name in Hebrew he knew who it was and there Yeshua spoke to him in Hebrew in the Hebrew tongue and Paul's life was changed forever but his life wasn't just changed forever in the extent that it just was totally made different do you remember what happened to him his eyes went blind his eyes went blind as he could not see and finally the blinders from his eyes fell and he was able to see he was able to know the truth and he was able to go and speak to the ten tribes of Israel scattered throughout the New Testament may say the Gentiles because we read in the English but here we know that he was going and teaching them who he was who Yeshua was and how his eyes had been blinded and yet how he was able to see Yeshua as he truly is friend that is what we need to learn from the I am today it's the letter of the I and boy we've covered a lot we've talked about how it's a picture of I it's the gate of temptation that must be guarded it's a Hebrew idiom of the evil eye of greed, of coveting that aches in sin by coveting the sin led to the defeat of all Israel we talked about how we need to put the Torah between our eyes and memorize the word it's one of the letters that make up Yeshua's name the sheen and the I in the justice of the Torah Yeshua paid the price and that Israel has been blinded in their eyes and yet as Paul was reached by the prayers of the early believers we too can pray for those around us and see their eyes opened may that be so as we pray today we thank you for your wonderful aleph bet what you have for us and we stand and proclaim and believe that you are opening the eyes of those around us that you are moving in our midst that you are giving us power over sin now whatever sin plagues us and comes against us that we can put your word between our eyes and that we can have power over that we can visualize having power we can remember and memorize your word we can have power we can remember the story of Joshua we will not covet the garments and the things of Babylon but we will seek you all the days of our lives may it be so thank you for joining us for this teaching there are more teaching articles and videos, audios and even music now at our website that's www.emetministries.com may Yahweh bless you and keep you may Yahweh cause His face to shine upon you and look graciously unto you may Yahweh lift up His countenance to you and give you peace, Amen 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 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