Articles by Nadav Ben-Guriel

This is the story of a King called Xerxes, who through his own poor choices, choices made through not having the fear or knowledge of the God of Israel, brought great shame to his name and to the name of the great Persian Empire by invading Greece, leading to the defeat of the Persian Empire. Xerxes himself ended up being assassinated by his own friends.

So what is this all about and is it relevant? Yes, it’s relevant, as relevant as God’s Word is, unless neither God nor God’s Word is relevant to you? Well then, if neither God nor His Word is relevant to you, what is?

But wisdom is proved right in the end.

This story of Xerxes, has great relevance to all nations. Did you say all nations? Yes, I did, in case you think you misheard me. To be specific, this story has relevance to those who think lightly of the fact that the government of a nation can take Israel to the International Court of Justice for Israel’s defending its biblical, God-ordained right to exist, even taking it further and accusing Israel of Genocide when it is Israel’s enemies, Hamas, not Israel, who clearly have the intent for genocide.

Let’s get back to the story of Xerxes and see why we should not ignore God’s Word.

This brings us to a prophet called Haggai. Haggai steps in at God’s instruction to tell the people of Israel, who had returned to their own land after seventy years of exile in Babylon, to repent of being overly-concerned about their own panelled (top-billing) houses when the House of God in Jerusalem remained unbuilt and unattended to (Haggai 1:1-15).

Unless we knew the timing of the prophet Haggai’s appearance as documented in the book of Ezra, we would not realize how significant Haggai’s appearance is to Israel.

Only on closer examination of the book of Ezra do we realize that the prophet Haggai’s appearance to Israel is at a time of extreme discouragement.

Let’s stop at that word “discouragement”. Are you feeling discouraged today? And what exactly has discouraged you? Could it be the words of a bully that have taken away your feeling of encouragement? You were doing ok, knowing that you had God’s Word as your backup. You had his instruction, his entitlement to go forward, just as the people of Israel (today’s Jews) feel entitled to the Land of Israel for two main reasons: firstly because God promised that the land of Israel belonged to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and gave Israel (today’s Jews) the title deed to the land of Israel written in none other than His Word (Genesis 15:17-21; Psalm 105:8-11).

Secondly, God FULFILLED that promise in 1948, by returning and restoring the people of Israel (today’s Jews) back to their land for the second time in human history. The fact that this is the second time that Israel has been returned and restored to their own land is according to God’s Word an irrevocable guarantee that Israel (today’s Jews) will NEVER AGAIN be exiled away from their own land (Isaiah 11:11).

Yet here we are, again discouraged. Who has been bullying you now? Who has been lying to you now? Who has been denying you of God’s promises now? Who has been fooling you into thinking that God’s promises were null and void when God has already DEMONSTRATED his faithfulness to you through the irrevocable fulfilling of His promises? Who has stopped you in mid-stride when you were walking confidently in the promises of your faithful God?

Does this sound familiar? Well, Jews all over the world are hearing voices in high places of government that deny Israel its right to exist. They are being told that “from the river to the sea”, a title promised to Abraham for his descendants Isaac and Jacob, is a title given to another people living in the Land of Israel.

This brings us back to Xerxes, who too was such a bully, a person who could literally stop Israel in mid-stride from fulfilling the mandate given to them by the Creator of the Universe Himself (Ezra 4:4-24).

Xerxes got it right to stop Israel in mid-stride (Ezra 4:23-24), when they had already begun the construction of the temple in Jerusalem under the go-ahead and assistance of Cyrus (Ezra 1:14), Xerxes’ predecessor.

It was Haggai the prophet’s commission from God to encourage (as in remove discouragement) precisely at a time that Israel had been discouraged, even stopped in their tracks by Xerxes’ ignorance of the promises of God and by Xerxes’ ignorance of the fact that fulfilment of God’s promises had ALREADY BEEN AUTHORIZED BY GOD HIMSELF (Ezra 5:1-2).

Xerxes’ ignorance of the decree of his predecessor Cyrus, the decree that gave Israel the go-ahead and the assistance to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, not only delayed the people of Israel from fulfilling their God-ordained mandate to build the temple in Jerusalem and for a long time robbed them of the security and assistance to do so, but ultimately led to God’s withdrawing Xerxes’ own security and existence and the security and existence of the great Persian Empire of which he was the head.

Xerxes’ ignorance led to his own downfall and to the downfall of the great Persian Empire.

Through ignorance, well-meaning people can become bullies, discouraging God’s very own people from fulfilling their God-given mandate. But to make matters far worse, that very ignorance and bullying can lead to the downfall of those who acted in ignorance, even if they were well-meaning.

Such was the fate of Xerxes.

Such was the fate of the great Persian Empire.

Beware of acting in ignorance, as Xerxes did and if you want to remain encouraged, beware of the likes and types of Xerxes in the current political arenas in which we may find ourselves. Don’t let yourself be discouraged, but be encouraged by the Word of God.

This week’s Parashah is Exodus 27:20-30:10 and is called “Tetzaveh”, which means “you shall command”, in the context of the Lord telling Moses to command the children of Israel to bring clear Olive oil for the lighting of the menorah, the temple lights, for a “perpetual candle-light” (“neir-tamied” means perpetual candle). This command to keep the temple lights burning perpetually was so necessary that it even necessitated the priests and Levites of the temple to “break” the Sabbath by lighting the menorah lights on the Sabbath. God’s Presence, the light of His Presence, must persist perpetually, because without it even our rest becomes meaningless, for there is no true rest without the Presence of God in our lives.

These chapters bring us intricate detail of the makings of the priestly garments, the anointing oil, the incense and the construction of the altar of incense and the manner in which the sacrifices were to be made upon the altar of sacrifice. Here we learn of how the priest was to “wear” or “carry” the whole of the twelve tribes of Israel upon his own shoulders, in the form of two beautiful Onyx stones attached to the Ephod, each engraved with the names of six tribes of Israel.

There is no other nation on the face of the Earth that was given such commands and regulations for the temple sacrificial system. We are told in Galatians 3:24

Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.

(Galatians 3:24 NRSV)

This NRSV seems to be a good translation here, because the word for “disciplinarian” or “guardian” (NIV) or “tutor” is translated from a Greek word paidagógos, which means “a trainer of boys”, a boy’s guardian or tutor, a slave who had charge of the life and morals of the boys of a family, not strictly a teacher.

The twelve tribes of Israel, their names carried in precious stones on the shoulders of the high priest, were being trained as no other nation has ever been trained, to understand the mysteries of atonement, propitiation for our sins, the sentence of death on an innocent sacrifice in the place of sinners deserving the penalty of death, the concept that there is no salvation without the shedding of innocent blood.

To literally top it all, the high priest wore a plate of pure gold attached to his turban with these words engraved on it (Exodus 28:36):

HOLY TO YaHuWeH

Holiness, God’s Holiness, is at the centre of this entire temple sacrificial system of which the priests and Levites were guardians and ministers.

There is no other nation on the face of the Earth, the nation of twelve tribes that emerged from the sons of Jacob, that was so tutored, so trained, so disciplined, so prepared to understand the Gospel of Yshua the Messiah, because as Paul says in Galatians, the law and its temple sacrificial system was put in charge as a trainer to lead us to Messiah.

In spite of all this “training”, Israel for the most part rejected their Messiah. Yet this was all part of God’s grand design, so that the gospel, in its rejection by the remaining tribe of Judah, should go to the nations.

the Jewish tribe of Israel may have rejected their Messiah, but God has not rejected them. They, together with the “ten lost tribes”, jointly referred to as “Ephraim – the fullness of the Gentiles” (Genesis 48:19), will once again be reconciled to their God. Jacob’s words to his son Joseph, shortly before Jacob passed from this life on Earth, were that Joseph’s son Ephraim would become the fullness of the Gentiles (m’lo ha-goyim). That does not just mean “many nations” as some translations would put it, but all nations, the fullness of all nations. What this truly means is that all believers in Jesus the Messiah, no matter what nation or tribe they come from, are represented by one of the sons of Israel, namely Ephraim. Whenever a Gentile is born again into the family of God through repentance and faith in Jesus, that person becomes enjoined to the collective family of the tribe of Ephraim. You, Jew or Gentile, have become members of God’s household and your collective name “Ephraim” is born on the shoulder of our High Priest and Messiah Y’shua. He bears also on his shoulder the tribe of Judah, who too shall be reconciled wholesale to their God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

So if you think that the lessons or “tutoring” given through the law of Moses and the sacrificial temple system is relevant only to Jews, then think again. You Gentiles, as the collective tribe of Ephraim, are equally born on the shoulders of your High Priest Y’shua, so that every word of the Old Covenant given to the twelve tribes of Israel for understanding the New Covenant Gospel message is as much relevant to you, as you work out your salvation with fear and trembling in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus.

Each of the gates of the City for which you long, the New Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that is above and the Jerusalem that is indeed free, has inscribed upon it not the name of your Earthly tribe or nation, but the name of one of those twelve tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:12)

Adopted or not, you are Jacob’s family and household and just as the high priest had HOLY TO YaHuWeH inscribed in gold upon his turban, you too have entered into a life of Holiness to your God.

There is something in the Parashat haShavua (weekly Torah reading) that just passed that has much to do with Yom Truah (Day of Loud-Trumpet Blast/Shout, otherwise known only traditionally as “Rosh haShanah”). Leviticus 23:23-25 gives us instructions about this day of Trumpet Blasts that is now soon to be upon us.

In the Parashah, Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20, (Parashat “Nitzavim”, where “Nitzavim” is Hebrew for “standing” – Deuteronomy 29:10), we find these words:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law

(Deuteronomy 29:29)

This tells us that certain things were hidden from the children of Israel, but that they were to concern themselves with the things that were revealed to them. The Torah (Law) of God was revealed to the children of Israel. It was given to them to know and to obey. Not only this, but the Torah belongs to the children of Israel not only for that particular dispensation of Law, but FOREVER. No matter how little they knew of the hidden things of God, they could at least follow God’s laws, even if only the letter of the Law was revealed to them.

But now to us, what was hidden has now also been revealed. Scripture speaks of Christ as a mystery (Ephesians 1:9-10). A mystery is something that was hidden. That is why God said to the children of Israel that the secret (hidden) things belong to Him. Christ, who was hidden, is no longer hidden.

So then, what does all this have to do with the pending Yom-Truah (otherwise known as “Rosh haShanah”)? In Leviticus 23:23, the Israelites are commanded to celebrate the Day of Trumpets on the FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH. The only way that the children of Israel could know that this was the first day of the month was by observation of the moon. As soon as it was a “new moon“, then they knew that the month had begun. But there is something peculiar about a new moon: for the most part, you cannot see it. The new moon is invisible, a darkened silhouette in the night sky with the light of the sun behind it, hidden for a few days. Technically speaking, as soon as you sight the thin sliver of the new moon, it is no longer a new moon, but it is a partial moon.

That is the connection between this last Shabbat’s Parashah and the pending Day of Trumpets (Rosh haShanah): a very loud declaration, a very loud shout of acclamation, a very loud trumpet blast that declares to us what was once hidden and is now no longer hidden; what was once a mystery and is no longer a mystery.

Just because the moon, in its hidden “new moon” state is invisible, does not mean that it does not exist. Just because Christ was hidden from the Israelites for centuries does not mean that he does not exist. Just because the things revealed, the Law given to the children of Israel, was relevant for them to obey, does not in any way mean that something far greater was yet to be revealed; that the Law of the Holy Spirit of Life in Messiah Y’shua (Christ Jesus) was to be imparted not only to the children of Israel first, but to all nations.

The “way” for the children of Israel was to follow God’s Law according to the letter of the Law. That “way” continues for all of us who have become children of Abraham through faith in Christ Jesus, who have been adopted into God’s household, who have become co-heirs together with Israel. Jesus never abolished the Torah (Mathew 5:17-20). He simply made it possible for us to keep the Torah (Law) by circumcising our hearts and empowering us by the Holy Spirit to do the Will of God from our hearts. He became “The Way” (John 14:6). No longer was “the way” only an obedience to the letter of the Law. Now “The Way” is Jesus himself, so that if, by a life in the Holy Spirit, we clothe ourselves with Christ, we can find ourselves capable of living according to God’s Law. The “things revealed” belong to the children of Israel forever. Because we are Abraham’s offspring in Christ, these things also belong to us. But now, what was hidden, what was once a mystery, is no longer a mystery. Jesus is no longer a mystery. We have been told by him that he is the way to the Father. When he said this, his disciples, both Simon Peter (John 13:36) and Thomas (John 14:5) were too overly pre-occupied with where Jesus would go. Instead, Jesus wanted them to be far more pre-occupied with himself, who he is, that he himself is the way to go to wherever he wanted them to go. Jesus himself is the way to the Father. Jesus himself is the way to keep God’s Holy Law and commands (Romans 8:3,4)

To the children of Israel, the light of the new moon was almost completely hidden, almost imperceptible in the night sky on that day of trumpet blasts. But that does not mean that it would remain hidden forever. Now, in Messiah Y’shua (Christ Jesus), “The Way, The Truth and The Life”, the light of Yihoveha (His Name) the Living God is shining very, very brightly in our hearts, to show us his ways and to enable us to live for him.

In order to get more wisdom and insight into the sighting of the new moon and its relation to Yom-Truah, please see the following video on YouTube created by Andrew Hodkinson, who is one of our authors on Good Olive Tree:

Some of us may have seen photos on social media of the charred remains of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. We don’t know if these Russian soldiers had any intent other than to follow instructions given to them from Putin and the powers that be. How grief-stricken their parents would be to see them now.

A grief stricken Aaron looked upon the now charred remains of two of his four sons. The tears welled up in his eyes and his heart tremored with grief. He could barely hold the pain within his heart, knowing that if he or his remaining two sons displayed their sudden grief to the people, if they pulled off their turbans in a public display of the utter despair that had suddenly besieged them, to make their hair “wild”, if they tore their clothes in response to the overwhelming impulse within them to do so, they would end up just as these two of Aaron’s sons.

Yet it had been all so different for the preceding seven days. the dessert night sky was resilient with stars and extraordinarily calm in its silence, so different from the clamour of Egypt. It was the clearest backdrop to the heightened sense of excitement that hung over the camp as the people waited for the seven days of ordination and consecration of Aaron and his sons to end. It had been told to them that YHVH would appear to them at the end of these seven days.

Out of the Tent of Meeting, emerged Aaron and his fours sons, all clothed in their beautiful priestly garments that shone brightly in the dessert sun with the newness of their manufacture. Aaron and his sons had been appointed by God and had been anointed with the special anointing oil that was made uniquely for the priesthood.

Emerging from their confinement at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, Aaron, assisted by all four of his sons, sacrificed all the prescribed animal offerings in perfect adherence to the manner prescribed to them by God.

Then, as if to enter into the very heart of the Father, Aaron and Moses entered the Tent of Meeting.

When Moses and Aaron emerged again from the Tent of Meeting to bless the people, the Glory of YHVH appeared and fire came out from the Presence of YHVH to consume the burnt offerings and fat portions that were on the altar. The people sang out with loud voices and fell face down at this remarkable sight.

But the euphoria seemed all too short-lived, because something was about to happen that would change their joy to sorrow. Suddenly, fire came out from the Presence of YHVH to consume two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, whilst they were offering up strange fire from their censors, fire that had been made from incense prescribed only for offering at the altar of incense that stood before the Holy of Holies inside the Tabernacle.

I cannot humanly comprehend the righteous anger of God. Granted, it’s humanly impossible to understand that a God of love could be this same God of wrath. But this does not give us reason to doubt the Scriptures, especially when the Holy Spirit has given His witness to it in our spirits. What I can do is draw lessons from this Parashah. So as I pondered upon the lessons to be drawn, my attention was drawn to the words in Hebrew “asher lo tzivah otam“, which means “which he did not command them” (Leviticus 10:1). It was because God had not commanded these two sons of Aaron to do what they did that the fire of His wrath was poured out upon them.

So then, what equivalent message can we find in the New Testament, a message of fire administered that has the mere appearance of being holy fire, but is nonetheless a fire strange to God, not from God, false fire. Here is one such example to be found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

(Galatians 1:6-9 NIV)

If you read carefully the ongoing context of these words of Paul to the Galatians, you will see clearly what this false fire is, this false gospel. Paul explains how he was saved from the most radical sect of Judaism, a Jew of Jews, not only practicing Judaism but excelling in it amongst his piers, in addition to this a persecutor of the church. Yet God miraculously saved him out of this, convincing him of what he was once unable to believe: that salvation does not come from observing the law of Moses, but from faith in Jesus the Messiah:

15“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

(Galatians 2:15-16 NIV)

The false gospel (false fire) that Paul was referring to is a gospel that confuses the grace of God, the message of the cross, the message of Christ crucified, the message of faith that opens a way for us into a life in the Holy Spirit, with a doctrine of salvation through works, a doctrine of salvation through the law.

Paul takes this much further and it would be best for you to read through the rest of Galatians to see that, amongst many of the other letters of Paul.

But let us not be one-sided in our interpretation of what or what isn’t “false fire”.

In the very same letter to the Galatians, Paul warns us that freedom from the law does not spell out freedom to sin:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh (Galatians 5:13 NIV)

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8)

You can see then, that false fire, a false gospel, is not just a gospel that deprives one of the message of the cross, a message of God’s grace, kindness, mercy and Holy Spirit obtained through faith in Jesus the Messiah. A false gospel, false fire, is equally a message that deprives one of the message of repentance from sin.

Yet, inasmuch as a false gospel is a gospel that puts people under bondage to the Law of Moses, an equally false gospel is a gospel that diminishes the law, as if to say that the law is invalid and outdated. There is much to be said about this, but I won’t venture into this aspect of false fire, except to give a few examples from Scripture: Mathew 5:17-20; Luke 16:17; Mathew 13:52; Romans 3:31; Romans 8:4.

So then, no matter what aspect of Scripture we tend to make our focus, whether it be grace, repentance, interpretation of Old Testament “treasure” in the light of New Testament revelation, the miraculous and the supernatural, let us be careful to take heed to the instructions of the Holy Spirit, who teaches us all things (John 14:26), giving value to every aspect of the word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

After all, it was of Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron who were consumed by the fire of God, that God said that they offered up strange fire “which he did not command them“. We want to be careful to find out what God has commanded us to do, so as to not be distracted by the things he did not command us to do.

This was a commentary on Parashat haShavua for Shabat 26th of March 2022: Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47

We all want to “hear” from God. At least, we do if we hunger for more of God in our lives. We all want to get a “word from God” to encourage us along the way. We don’t want to hear our spiritual brother or spiritual sister piping some “prophetic word” that they got off you-tube or were inspired by from the events in their lives that have nothing to do with what we are actually going through in life that nobody really seems to know or care about anyway because they are too busy dealing with their own issues. So then, what are the things we consider to be “from Heaven”. If we could number each one of them, maybe they would be something like this: My fiance’s proposal to me. My baby’s first smile. My daughter’s wedding. My first pay-cheque. My first car. My first business success. My survival in a life-threatening situation etc. Or maybe, if we are more “spiritual”, then our thing from heaven would be “my first encounter with God”, “my miracle healing”, my “prayer answered”, the prophecy given to me by a reliable prophet, “my prosperity break-through”, “my deliverance” etc.

But what are ten things given to us from Heaven? Well, the answer to this is “davka”, (“believe it or not”) not in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament. It’s in the Parashah for this last Shabbat, which is Exodus 18:1 – 20:23, which is called “Parashat Yitro”. Why Yitro? Because it begins with the account of Yitro, or Jethro as we know it, Moses’ father in law who came visiting Moses in the dessert with his daughter and her and Moses’ sons Gershom (which means “stranger there”) and Eliezer (“My God is my helper”).

But the Parashah turns to more serious matters in Chapter 19, when God instructs Moses to tell the people to consecrate themselves for God’s visitation upon them at Mount Sinai. This visitation came in the form of “loud voices” (sounds, translated for some reason as “thunderings”), lightnings, a heavy cloud on the mountain, a VERY strong sound of a trumpet and great shaking of the mountain, so much so that all the people shook with fear.

The next chapter, Exodus 20, is the giving of the “ten commandments” on Mount Sinai and begins “And God spoke all these things, saying…”. The Hebrew for (all these) “things” is “d’variem”. This can mean “words” or “things”. Whilst these are the words of God, they are in essence the things of God. Fourth in the list amongst the ten things of God is keeping the Shabbat, amongst warnings against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery and stealing. Yes, its high up in the list of “the things of God”.

By this time, some of you might be saying that you are not under the law or you are Gentile, so this does not apply to you. But I say that through Jesus, this is the same God who became YOUR Father in Heaven, not a different God modified through two thousand years of Christian “reformation”. (Just as a quick rabbit-trail, my best friend of six years old is now a pastor in the church of Sweden and I know for a fact that “reformation” in his church has transpired to the point of having a married – a woman married to a woman – female lesbian as being the bishop (now retired) of Upsala, elected as so by his “boss” the archbishop of the Evangelical church of Sweden. The archbishop is a lady by the way and she allows all this. In addition to this, an evangelical Swedish pastor, Ake Green, who stood up against gay relationships and marriages, narrowly escaped one month in prison for speaking the biblical truth, only because of some technical hitch in the laws of the European Union. But that is all old news from 2005 and I am certain that there are more horror stories about the world’s church leadership than that since then. Sorry for the rabbit trail, I just had to put that in).

You also might be saying that these ten commandments are all part of an outdated law and an outdated and less “glorious” covenant and have nothing to do with Heaven whatsoever. I’m sorry to inform you, that these are in fact the very ten things OF HEAVEN. Heaven is in no ways a place of “do this” and “don’t do that” and we know that the ten commandments are all about “do this and don’t do that”. But that does not make them “not the things of Heaven”. It just means that in order to reflect the Heaven of God, we had better in this rebellious and wicked world not do the things that the wicked people in this world do and we had better reflect the things that are being done in Heaven.

The evidence for what I have just said comes straight out of the same Parashah:

Then YHVH (the Lord) said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven’ “. (Exodus 20:22 NIV)

There we have it. God spoke from Heaven, not from any world-view.

So then, what has Paul and the New Testament have to say about this? Paul collaborates with this, interweaving vital Old Covenant truths into his heavily reinforced (to say the least) teachings on Grace:

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. (Romans 7:14)

The law is spiritual. It’s not unspiritual. The Old Covenant, that being the old administration of knowing God but not the law of God nor God itself, may be the covenant of the letter, but the law of God is spiritual. It comes from God. It is God. It is of the “things of God”.