Parable #9. Wise & foolish servants:

1. Today is Day #9
2. The Ninth Mashal of Messiah
3. Failures of the rabbinic religious movement
4. The first century enemies of the Messiah
5. They were intoxicated with their own Self-importance!
6. The man-made traditions of the Bramble Bush King
7. The prophets of Israel foretold this…
8. The rise to power of the rabbinate who would be Prophet, Priest and King
9. The Bramble Bush King has violently abused the Torah, Prophets and Writings
10. Moses predicted that the Messiah would be rejected by His own people
11. Why is the Light of the Holy One hated?
12. The Light condemns Pride and Arrogance
13. In the eyes of HaShem the religious elites are no better than the rest of us
14. Failures of the Priestly Religious Leaders
15. They sought to be Rich in Themselves; instead of Rich in Adonai
16. The hearts of the corrupt priests were filled with graven images

Today is Day#9:

1. Today is “Day #9” in the forty-nine day Countdown to Shavuot.

2. Today is Nine days in the Omer.

Today is nine days which are one week and two days in the Omer.

היום תשעה ימים, שהם שבוע אחד ושני ימים בעומר.פ

Haiyom tish’ah yamim, shehaym shavuah echad ushnay yamim ba’omer.

“You shall count for yourselves — from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving — seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days.” (Leviticus). “You shall count for yourselves seven weeks, from when the sickle is first put to the standing crop shall you begin counting seven weeks. Then you will observe the Festival of Shavu’ot for Adonai Eloheinu.” (Deuteronomy).

“Blessed are You, Adonai Eloheinu, King of the universe, Who sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.”

ברוך אתה, אדוני אלוהינו, מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וציוונו על ספירת העומר.פ

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, melech ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha’omer.

The Ninth Mashal of the Messiah:

מִי־הוּא אֵפוֹא הַסֹּכֵן הַנֶּאֱמָן וְהַנָּבוֹן אֲשֶׁר יַפְקִידֵהוּ הָאָדוֹן עַל־עֲבָדָיו לָתֵת אֶת־אֲרֻחָתָם בְּעִתּוֹ׃ אַשְׁרֵי הָעֶבֶד הַהוּא אֲשֶׁר יָבֹא אֲדֹנָיו וְיִמְצָאֵהוּ עֹשֶׂה כֵן׃ אֱמֶת אַגִּיד לָכֶם כִּי עַל־כֹּל אֲשֶׁר־יֵשׁ־לוֹ יַפְקִידֵהוּ׃ וְהָעֶבֶד הַהוּא אִם־יֹאמַר בְּלִבּוֹ מְאַחֵר אֲדֹנִי לָבוֹא וְהֵחֵל לְהַכּוֹת אֶת־הָעֲבָדִים וְאֶת־הַשְּׁפָחוֹת וְלֶאֱכֹל וְלִשְׁתּוֹת וְלִשְׁכֹּר׃ בּוֹא יָבוֹא אֲדֹנֵי הָעֶבֶד הַהוּא בְּיוֹם לֹא־יְצַפֶּה וּבְשָׁעָה לֹא יֵדָע וִישַׁסֵּף אוֹתוֹ וְשָׂם אֶת־חֶלְקוֹ עִם־הַסּוֹרֲרִים׃ וְהָעֶבֶד הַהוּא אֲשֶׁר יָדַע אֶת־רְצוֹן אֲדֹנָיו וְלֹא הֵכִין וְלֹא־עָשָׂה כִרְצוֹנוֹ יֻכֶּה מַכּוֹת רַבּוֹת׃ וַאֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדַע וְעָשָׂה דְבָרִים אֲשֶׁר הוּא חַיָּב עֲלֵיהֶם מַכּוֹת לֹא־יֻכֶּה כִּי אִם־מְעָט כִּי כָל־אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר נִתַּן־לוֹ הַרְבֵּה דָּרוֹשׁ יִדָּרֵשׁ מִמֶּנּוּ הַרְבֵּה וַאֲשֶׁר הִפְקִידוּ בְיָדוֹ הַרְבֵּה יִשְׁאֲלוּ מֵאִתּוֹ יוֹתֵר׃

מי הוא אפוא הסוכן הנאמן והנבון אשר האדון יפקידהו על משרתיו לתת להם את ארוחתם בזמן? אשרי העבד ההוא אשר אדוניו יבוא וימצאהו עושה כן. אמת אני אומר לכם, על כל נכסיו יפקיד אותו. אך העבד ההוא אם יאמר בלבו, מאחר אדוני לבוא, ויתחיל להכות את העבדים והשפחות ולאכל ולשתות ולהשתכר, בוא יבוא האדון של אותו עבד ביום שאיננו מצפה לו ובשעה שאינו יודע, וישסף אותו וישים חלקו עם הבלתי-מאמינים. והעבד ההוא אשר ידע את רצון אדוניו ולא הכין ולא עשה כרצונו יכה מכות רבות. אבל זה שלא ידע ועשה דברים שהוא חיב עליהם מכות, יכה מעט. כל מי שנתן לו הרבה, ידרש ממנו הרבה; ומי שהפקד בידו הרבה, ידרשו ממנו עוד יותר.פ

“Who then is the faithful and understanding manager whom the master appoints over his servants to give them their meal at its time? O, the gladness of that servant whom the master comes and finds doing this! Truly I tell you that he will appoint him over all that is his. But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master delays in his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day that he does not anticipate and in an hour he does not know. He will cut him apart and place his portion with the rebellious (unbelievers). That servant who knows the will of his master but does not prepare and does not do what he wants will be struck with many blows. One who does not know and does things that make him liable will not be struck except a few times. For everyone that is given much, much will surely be sought from him. One to whom *They (i.e. Elohim) entrust much, They (the Heavenly Court) will ask more of him.”

*In Hebrew, the third-person plural without an antecedent is a reference to HaShem and to the proceedings in His Heavenly Court.

Failures of the rabbinic religious movement:

Messiah once again is talking primarily about the shortfalls of the religious leadership of the nation of Israel.

The religious leaders were supposed to be faithfully managing the spiritual affairs of the nation for HaShem. However, they were unfaithful in that task. The leaders of Rabbinic Judaism were not doing the will of the Holy One. The focus of these unfaithful ones was not on their accountability to their Master (HaShem and His Messiah whom He had sent). These faithless ones had abused their position by amassing great power for themselves; as did their counterparts—the priests. The priestly and teaching servants had become self-serving and abusive toward the works of the other servants (AmIsrael), the common people whom they had been entrusted to wisely care for; instead:

“They began to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.”

There are many ways to abuse people. One way is to disabuse their lifetime work. You can lie about what a person has actually said and done. Just revise or rewrite whatever it was the person said or wrote down in their writings. The elite unrighteous religious leaders of Messiah’s day (the first century CE) committed editorial violence on all of the righteous servants of HaShem referenced in the Tanakh—the patriarchs, the prophets and all the other righteous ones attested to in the holy Scriptures. The priests and the rabbis were entrusted to accurately transmit the sacred messages and the meanings of the Tanakh (Torah, Prophets, and the Writings). Instead they substituted their own oral laws and man-made traditions in place of the Word of God (D’var HaShem).

There are many ways to be a glutton and a drunkard.

You can be a spiritual glutton and drunk. You can create a feast of spiritual junk food and intoxicating beverages. You can turn your food and beverage creations into a business. Build your own food production plant and brewery. Mass produce and market your favorite spiritual junk foods and beverages for mass consumption. Finally to increase your sales: you can convince the general public that your junk food and alcoholic beverages are actually very nutritious and good for them. When the truth is they are not. This is what the religious leaders of Israel were doing in the first century. They had grown fat and drunk on their own false teaching. They had replaced the healthy teaching of the written Tanakh with their mass marketed unhealthy oral law. This diet of unhealthy false teaching made both our leaders and our people of Israel spiritually sick.

The Messiah declared that the false teaching recipes and cuisine of the rabbis and the priests had become so harmful that it was only making people fit for hell instead of heaven:

“Woe to you, soferim (writers, letter counters of the Torah, scribes) and Prushim (Pharisees, separate ones), hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte (convert); and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a Son of Gehenna (of hell) as yourselves.”

The first century enemies of the Messiah:

These first century (CE) teachers of Israel who actually met the Messiah and opposed him will be judged more harshly than those later religious leaders who have neither met the Messiah in person or know much about jim. Thy have not known much about the Messiah because they are ignorant of the actual writings of the Tanakh about the Messiah and his own teaching that has been past on by his Jewish disciples in the HaBrit HaChadashah that is written entirely by Yehudim.

The truth is that the rabbinic successors of the Prushim have only been well schooled in the oral traditions of the rabbis and not the actual writings of the prophets. Our modern rabbis only know the meanings that have been passed on to them by the Prushim Bramble Bush King.

The great sin, the rejection of the Messiah of Israel, belongs to the first century Prushim.

They knew that they were opposing the real Messiah. They knew they were supplanting the writings of the true prophets with their own false teachings. They knew better than to supplant the Divinely-inspired works of the righteous men and women who God entrusted with His Testimony of His Messiah.

They were intoxicated with their own Self-importance!

The Messiah himself appeared to the Prushim rabbinate (and the first century priests). The Messiah’s teachings were attested to with signs, miracles and great wonders. Yet, these wicked men, completely drunk in the intoxication of their own self-importance and violently rejected the Servant of the Holy One; and they did this in very public ways that are forever shameful and unforgivable. The prophetic warning is that these men who possessed the greater measure of knowledge will also be held accountable for their horrible stewardship of that knowledge:

For to him who much is given, much is expected.

The man-made traditions of the Bramble Bush King:

In these first century false-reports of the Prushim taught to us by Messiah in his Ninth Mashal we observe the skillful social and psychological manipulations of the Bramble Bush rabbinate. The self-serving, self-proclaimed separate ones (i.e. set-apart; divorced from the world; so called ‘holy ones’) of the first century had successfully led our people (Israel) to follow ‘their’ false teachings rather than the directives of HaShem; as given by our patriarchs, Mosheh, and the prophets in the Tanakh – in their clear testimony of the Messiah.

These false-teachers taught the common people that our salvation would come to us only by obeying ‘their’ man-made mitzvot and hyper-complicated applications (halakhot) of the Law of Moses. These rulers ultimately convinced our people to replace the Divinely ordained directives of the prophets, priests, and kings with ‘their’ directives; whose ever-growing false interpretations of the sacred Scriptures eventually invalidated the real meaning(s) of the D’var HaShem.

The prophets of Israel foretold this…

The true prophets of the Tanakh foretold that this great falling-away of Israel would inevitably occur.

However, our prophets also promised that one day Israel would return to a right relationship with the Holy One; after we had returned to the Land of Israel a second time (i.e. 1948). In the first century (CE) instead of repenting because the Light of the Holy One had rebuked their darkness, the Bramble Bush religious rulers (king) severely insulted (blasphemed) the Spirit of the Holy One by slandering His Holy Servant the Messiah. These false teachers claimed that the Messiah of HaShem was demon-possessed; thereby directly insulting the Spirit of the Holy One, who indwells the Messiah, in an extremely profane and unforgivable manner.

The rise to power of the rabbinate who would be Prophet, Priest, and King:

How did the Bramble Bush who would be prophet, priest, and king rise to power?

First, in the beginning the religious leaders covertly assaulted the prophets of Israel by significantly changing (beating, assaulting) the intended meanings of their words (prophecies); including the Torah of Moses.

Second, they elevated their take-over oral tradition to the level of killing the prophets when the Prushim rabbinate replaced the promise of salvation through Messiah with their own promise of salvation; through adherence to their ‘own’ man-made traditions.

Third, the rabbinical movement “stoned” the prophets when they said their prophecies did not testify to the teaching of the Messiah Yeshua; when in fact over 300 prophecies from the Tanakh were fulfilled at his first coming to Israel; and another 300 prophecies will be fulfilled at his soon coming return. The rabbis stoned the prophets when they called the Messiah of God’s voluntary sacrifice for sin—heresy!

In addition: these Bramble Bush rabbis also coveted what was assigned by God only to the Messiah—his kingship. They wanted to rule over all the “trees” of Israel; which means they wanted to rule over all of the “offices” and “institutions” of Israel (i.e. prophet, priest, and king). It is a true saying:

The counterfeit teaching of the Bramble Bush rabbis has been a complete failure.

These men have been trying to change themselves and everybody else from the Outside-in, according to their own corrupt motivations and vain ambitions. In so doing these men honor themselves; and not God. Their failed approach is the exact opposite of what Moses and the holy prophets taught. The true kedoshim (holy ones) taught us that we have to be changed from the Inside-out, according to the pure motives that only the regenerating Presence of the Spirit of Grace (Chesed) and Truth (Emet) can produce in us.

The Bramble Bush King has violently abused the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings:

“But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My Master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the Master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.”

These Bramble Bush kings have ruled over all of the institutions (trees) of Israel for over twenty centuries now and during this time they have repeatedly beaten, killed, and stoned to death (as heresy) the original meanings and intents of God’s prophets.

The Prushim (tannaim) stoned the holy prophets when they blasphemed the Lord of Glory (His Messiah) whom all of the prophets of Israel bore witness to. The Prushim (tannaim) declared war on HaShem and His prophets (holy servants) when ‘they’ called the one who the Holy One Blessed Forever “demon possessed.”

These foolish men took it upon themselves to do what cannot be done by any man. They blasphemed the Spirit of the Holy One.

Like the evil one they attempted to ‘ascend‘  to the place of judgment (the throne) that only belongs to HaShofet Adonai Elohei Yisrael. Only HaShem is our Judge and He has left the entire matter of the judgment of all the angels and all of humankind to M’shicho (His Messiah), who is now the Head of all things.

The Bramble Bush rabbis who have continuously fought to remain the sole rulers of Israel have completely failed in their vain attempt to replace the rule of the real Messiah of God. Their numerous failed attempts to effectively rule over all the institutions of Israel parallel the five (ascensions) of the evil one; his failed attempt to ascend to a higher plane of rule than that which God originally assigned to him (Isaiah 14:12-14). Here is what the prophet Isaiah and a modern messianic Jewish scholar Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum have to say about this:

אֵ֛יךְ נָפַ֥לְתָּ מִשָּׁמַ֖יִם הֵילֵ֣ל בֶּן־שָׁ֑חַר נִגְדַּ֣עְתָּ לָאָ֔רֶץ חֹולֵ֖שׁ עַל־גֹּויִֽם׃ וְאַתָּ֞ה אָמַ֤רְתָּ בִֽלְבָבְךָ֙ הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם אֶֽעֱלֶ֔ה מִמַּ֥עַל לְכֹֽוכְבֵי־אֵ֖ל אָרִ֣ים כִּסְאִ֑י וְאֵשֵׁ֥ב בְּהַר־מֹועֵ֖ד בְּיַרְכְּתֵ֥י צָפֹֽון׃

איך נפלת משמים הילל בן־שחר נגדעת לארץ חולש על־גוים ׃ואתה אמרת בלבבך השמים אעלה ממעל לכוכבי־אל ארים כסאי ואשב בהר־מועד בירכתי צפון׃

“I will ascend into heaven.”

[First] “Satan was not satisfied with the high position God had already given him as the guardian of God’s throne, with authority over who had access to God’s Presence, and his position as the possessor of the earth in its original creation. He wanted a higher position than he already had, and the only higher position was God’s throne, a right that belongs only to the Messiah. With the first ‘I will,’ he desired to usurp God’s throne and sit on it himself in place of the Messiah.”

“I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.”

[Second] “Whenever the word star is used symbolically, it is always a symbol of angels, whether fallen or unfallen (ref.1, 2, 3, 4, 5). It was used of Satan in verse 12. With this I will, he expressed his desire to become the sole authority over each individual angel. This meant that he wished to depose Michael from his position of archangel to become the archangel himself.”

“I will sit upon the mount of congregation in the uttermost parts of the north.”

{Third] “These terms are used elsewhere to describe the Millennial Kingdom (ref. 1, 2, 3). He knew that God’s program was for the Son of God to rule as the Messiah over Israel. With this I will, Satan expressed his desire to become the messianic ruler over Israel [and all of the messianic world, i.e. the Commonwealth of Israel] himself.”

אֶעֱלֶ֖ה עַל־בָּ֣מֳתֵי עָ֑ב אֶדַּמֶּ֖ה לְעֶלְיֹֽון׃

אעלה על־במתי עב אדמה לעליון׃

“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.”

[Fourth] Whenever the word cloud is used symbolically, it is always a symbol of the Shechinah Glory (ref. 1, 2, 3, 4). This unique glory, a glory that belongs only to God, is something Satan desired for himself.

“I will make myself like the Most High.”

[Fifth] “Whenever God is referred to as the Most High, it emphasizes God as the possessor of the heavens and the earth. With this ‘I will,’ Satan expressed his desire to become the sole possessor of everything that God created in Genesis 1:1, he wished to be like God in authority, and power, and control. With these five I wills, he led a revolt in Heaven, brought violence to Heaven, and was judged and cast down.”

We believe the Bramble Bush has pridefully and arrogantly followed in the evil one’s foot steps.

The Bramble Bush who would be our king has judged the real Messiah unfit to rule and continues to attempt to rule in his place. The Bramble Bush has even attempted to ‘judge’ who is a Jew and who is not a Jew; literally attempting to steal the ‘birthright’ of our fellow Yehudim. Only Abba our Father can say who is HIS child and who is not. No mere man has such a right. The Bramble Bush has replaced the salvation of HaShem with their own (replacement) plan of salvation. The Messiah has sternly warned that if this substitute plan of salvation is fully embraced by us (Am Israel) it will make us all converts to hell instead of heaven. Therefore, it is written:

אמר להם: אתם מלמטה; אני מלמעלה. אתם מן העולם הזה; אני אינני מן העולם הזה. לכן אמרתי לכם שתמותו בחטאיכם; שכן אם אינכם מאמינים כי אני הוא, מות תמותו בחטאיכם.  פ

He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above, you are from this world, I am not of this world.” Therefore I told you that you would die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am [he, the Messiah your Redeemer], you shall die in your sins.

Moses predicted that the Messiah would be rejected by His own people:

Moshe Eved HaKadosh – the Holy Servant Moses, knew that when the Messiah would come our religious leaders would reject him.

Moses knew that at the first the Messiah would be rebelled against more severely than he was. Moses prophesied as much. He prophesied that when the Messiah would finally appear our people would violently rebel against him. In over one hundred ways like the Beloved Son Joseph, outlined in the Genesis Torah account of Moses, the Beloved One was prophesied to at the first be hated by his own countrymen.

Aware of this fact the Messiah informed his Jewish talmidin that initially Israel and the world would hate him.

This was so because the self-vanity of the human race is such that very few people are willing to admit that we are in truth all hopeless sinners in need of a Deliverer-Savior. Instead, our human race would rather reject the Messiah than humbly repent and confess to God that we are all sinners in need of His Divine Redemption.

The world rejects the *Salvation of God by both our flattering, insincere words; as well as our acts of open contempt toward His rule.

*The name Y’shua – lit. means: “Salvation of God.”

We reject the Messiah of God by our either making fake, flattering speech about him that we don’t sincerely mean or by our speaking the truth openly and honestly that we neither desire, want, need or believe in the salvation that he offers us. For this reason it is written:

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”

This universal world-wide claim that ‘one is sufficient in his or her own good works’ Messiah calls “evil deeds.”

Why? Because the evil deeds in view here is the vanity of spiritually imperfect human beings declaring to El Shaddai (the All-Sufficient One) that they are sufficient in their own good works, when the truth is “we have all sinned” and come short of the glory (the unreachable standard of  perfection) that the Holy One requires. The fact is we are all sinners in need of the Messiah, the Salvation of God who is our (real) Deliverer.

Therefore, the “I AM THAT I AM” (Ehyeh asher Ehyeh) says to us that everyone who does evil but who proclaims himself righteous before Him hates “His Light.” This is so because these persons refuse to let their self-vanity be injured by their evil deeds being openly exposed by the Spirit of Truth (רוח האמת).

Why is the Light of the Holy One hated?

Why is the Light of HaShem hated?

The Light is hated because it proclaims the truth that we are all imperfect sinners whose lack of a truly perfect and blameless life keeps us from fellowship with the Holy One. We are all, therefore, condemned by our works. We are not vindicated by our works. It is an evil deed to say otherwise. Therefore, no one will ever be proclaimed righteous by the Holy One because their good deeds outweighed their bad deeds. There is no such thing as the balancing of the scales.

Balancing the scales is a false teaching that was conjured up – invented -in an illegal attempt to cook the books (חשבונאות כוזבת –  false accounting). The balancing of the scales is another invention of the Bramble Bush. It is a true saying:

The Holy One will never accept us in our imperfection.

The truth is the Holy One will never proclaim anyone righteous before Him by their good deeds other than the blameless one, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach. We must become perfect as our heavenly Father is Perfect. We must put our faith in the Messiah our Redeemer (HaGo’el).

Through faith in the Moshia HaOlam (Savior of the World) the Father has given us the sole means by which we can die to all our sin (imperfections) so that one day we might be resurrected unto all His (God’s) righteousness.

To proclaim oneself righteous apart from the loving-grace afforded to us through faith in the Messiah is a hateful, insulting act toward Adonai (the LORD) our Father. Those who love God will humble themselves before the Presence of His Light. We (believing Israel) confess that we are sinners in need of HaShem’s Branch of Righteousness (Tsemach Tsedakah), His Deliverer, His Messiah who He sent to us; so that we might believe and receive His gift of eternal life.

The Light condemns pride and arrogance:

Those who hate the Light will refuse to come to the Light.

They will proudly insist that their imperfect deeds do not make them insufficient for acceptance by the Holy One. They will proclaim themselves to be “righteous.” This is why the world hates the Messiah. Many call the Messiah Lord but He is not the lord of anyone who claims they are proclaimed righteous by their own works. The proud and the arrogant hate anyone or anything that would relabel them as “unrighteous.” There are billions of deceived Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims (etc.) in the world today. All of these deceived persons believe in some version of the doctrine of the balancing of the scales. This false teaching of the balancing of the scales is a universal deception. The Great Lie in the Garden of Eden was that the experience of evil mixed in with good would somehow magically create enlightenment (cf. Messiah in Sukkot, remarks regarding the lie of the goodness of the Etrog).

The truth is any mixture of evil mixed in with good does not create enlightenment. It creates death!

No matter how small the content of sin and how great the content of good in a person’s life, any mixture of good and evil together will inevitably lead to that person being judged unworthy of the Holy One. Therefore, the act of anyone proclaiming himself (or another) to be righteous according to his (or her) works is evil. Our works of self-righteousness are evil deeds. This is so because no one of any religious sect will ever be declared righteous by any deeds other than the righteous deeds of the Messiah and the Spirit of the Holy One. The flawless character and sacrifice (without spot, wrinkle or blemish) of the Beloved One, the Righteous One, the true Tzaddik who was sent from heaven to earth by our heavenly Father—he alone possesses the Power (Hagevurah) to save us. Those who proudly insist on being declared righteous by their own delusion of self-sufficiency hate the Light because:

The Light condemns their arrogance!

In the eyes of HaShem the religious elites are no better than the rest of us:

The false teachers of the world hate the conviction that the Father of Lights has sent upon them. The Light of the World (Or Ha’Olam) clearly revealed to our Jewish religious leaders that they are not the elite spiritual leaders that they claim to be. They have been declared prideful. They have been judged to be arrogant. In the eyes of God these men are no better than the rest of us. They are worse than us. For we do not claim to be righteous according to our own deeds. They do! Also, these false teachers at the first (the Tannaim) were entrusted with all of the treasures of Adonai and yet they chose not to be rich in Adonai.

They chose to be Rich in themselves. Not Rich in Adonai.

The last six eras (there are seven in all) of our Jewish rabbis have been poor stewards of the wealth and power that they were entrusted with—the treasured writings of God’s prophets and the teaching of His Messiah.

The truth is: in the eyes of God the rabbis (like us) are also imperfect sinners who do not measure up to HIS standard of moral and spiritual perfection. Yet, historically unlike the common people of Israel, these religious leaders (servants of God) have possessed the unlimited riches and power that HaShem has invested in the writings of His prophets and the teaching of His Messiah. Yet none of them have discerned this truth:

The Messiah has already come!

The Messiah Yeshua is the one (not ‘these’ men) who can make Israel and the entire world safe, secure, and wealthy (happy, ashrei) beyond anything we can think or imagine! Yet tragically these men led astray (betrayed) their own people (Israel) to reject him; and replace God’s most blessed rule with their useless rule(s).

This rejection of the Messiah happened because our first century religious leaders hated his convicting Message. They were elitists. They were the upper class religious and political leaders of their day. In their strong delusion of exclusivity, entitlement, authority, and power these false teachers chose to do all that they could to kill the Messiah.

Failures of the priestly Religious Leaders:

The Messiah not only rebuked the rabbinate of the  Prushim; He also rebuked the highly privileged priestly class (the Tzaddikim, Sadducees).

He strongly rebuked the aristocratic priestly sect for their corrupt financial dealings with the common people of Israel and for their nullification of the Gentiles access to their own court (dedicated small space) at the Temple (i.e. the court of the Gentiles). Some of the sinful activities that were routinely being practiced by the priests at the first century Temple were:

a.  The Gentiles’ right to worship in their own dedicated area-court (the Court of the Gentiles) was displaced by all of the concession stands (businesses) that were illegally placed there by the High Priest.

b.  The regular practice of extortion in the selling of temple sanctioned animals. The animals had to be examined for imperfections. If the animals did not measure up to the priestly examiner’s expectation then the worshiper had to buy one of the Temple sanctioned animals. The mark-up on the Temple sanctioned animals was way too high. The worshipers were being exploited by their own priests.

c.  The Temple leaders practiced usury in their manipulation of the rates charged for the exchange of secular currency for religious currency (secular coins exchanged for special coins minted for Temple use). Since the secular coins had graven images on them they could not be used to transact Temple business, so the people had to buy Temple coins (with their secular money) to meet this religious requirement. The business of exchanging secular coins for religious coins included interest rates charges for the exchanges that were incredibly exorbitant. The priests were abusing their fellow Jewish brothers and sisters in a very big way. The mistake was:

The corrupt priests believed their misconduct would never be brought into the light.

Messiah said that one day everything would be brought under the examination (judgment) of the light. Everything would be examined and judged. Messiah also said this examination would be done publicly, so that everyone would know (throughout all the ages) what had been done good or bad. There would be a supernatural accounting on an unknown day and an hour.  Judgment will come: after Messiah (ben David) appears a second time as the administrative Head of the entire Household (religious and secular) of HaShem. True to ancient Jewish belief there will be a time of judgment. Then will the good conduct of the faithful ones be rewarded; and the disloyal conduct of the unfaithful ones will be punished. Messiah witnessed daily deceit and Idolatry being practiced in the Temple. He openly proclaimed to his fellow Yehudim that the Temple personnel’s pious preoccupation with sacred “things” was a deception. The priests, Levites and Temple businessmen had become obsessed only with getting power and material wealth.

The priests sought to be Rich in Themselves; instead of Rich in Adonai:

Messiah accurately judged the corrupt hearts of these unfaithful servants.  The desire of their heart was to obtain as much material wealth and power as they could. They failed to worship the Holy One and serve His people. These corrupt priestly servants were not interested in being Rich in Adonai, they were only interested in being  rich in themselves.

The hearts of the corrupt priests were filled with graven images:

Messiah openly rebuked the priestly rulers for secretly practicing Idolatry.

The religious rulers hearts were filled with the graven images (wicked things) of greed, avarice and covetousness (cf. Exodus 20:4,17;  Ezekiel 8:10). These excesses testified of the internal corruption that existed in the “sons of Levi” (בְּנֵֽי־לֵוִי֙). It was these sinful hidden realities of the ‘heart’ that were completely obstructing the fulfillment of the real purpose of the Temple, which was to sincerely worship our Father in heaven and in so doing to openly acknowledge and support His love for all humanity. The Messiah stated that in his first coming he had appeared so that he might clearly communicate to his fellow Jews (and through them to the Gentiles) the Father’s great love for all of humankind. This correcting influence cost Messiah the (redemptive, atoning) sacrifice of his own life.

He (who is our Korban Pesach) voluntarily allowed himself to be bound with the “cords of our sin” to the altar of our judgment. This Messiah did so that we might fully be reconciled to the Righteous Father and understand (experience) His great love for us.

This conflict, regarding the lack of a proper recognition of Messiah’s priestly mission on earth and his many pronouncements against the priestly class of Israel, was prophesied about in Psalm 69:9 (MT, Masoretic Text, verse 10):

כִּֽי־קִנְאַת בֵּיתְךָ אֲכָלָתְנִי וְחֶרְפֹּות חֹורְפֶיךָ נָפְלוּ עָלָֽי׃

כי־קנאת ביתך אכלתני וחרפות חורפיך נפלו עלי׃

“For zeal for Your House has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.”

NEXT, PARABLE, #10, UNFRUITFUL FIG TREE…

Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 29 >>