Trinity in Unity
The Oneness of God as revealed in the Tanakh
Dear Seeker of Truth,
As you read this meditation let us pray that Yahwah the God of truth (Elohei emet) will lead you into all truth. We are commanded to love Yahwah our Elohim (God) with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, let us pray for Yahwah's Spirit to enable us to do this.
I write this response to the pamphlet as a way of learning more about the Creator, all mankind will one-day worship. It is a critical response designed to bring the reader closer to the truth of the teaching of the TaNaKhM (the Bible). For the sake of the Rabbi, I will try to elucidate the ideas with only the Tanakh and Jewish authorities. This to counter the accusation that the ideas contained were made up by Gentiles or messengers of the Almighty who follow the Christian (Messianic ) faith.
The pamphlet, I am responding to, is labeled the "Absolute Unity of God". I would like to ask why is it not entitled "The Unity or Oneness of Hashem". Why is the term Absolute in there at all? Does the term "Absolute Unity" come up anywhere at all in the Tanakhm. If not, then is it possible that the writer is defending a concept of human invention even as the title is of his own invention? Prophets wrote the Tanakh and none of them used the Term "Absolute Unity", why not? I will tell you why I think they did not, because the prophets wrote and spoke what Elohim told them to write or speak. They wrote and spoke what Elohim wanted his people Israel and the Gentiles called by his name to know. Anything added is elucidation in the hands of man. This is permissible. But let us always remember the writings of the prophets carry a far higher authority in determining truth than any of the writings which came afterwards, by men who did not reach the level of prophecy in their teachings. So let us love Yahwah our Elohim with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. And treat this as a study of his teaching (Torah) out of our love for him.
The Written Torah and the Oral Torah
We must accept the written Torah as the highest authority. For we find, in by far the majority of the cases, that when a prophet spoke or wrote whether Samuel or Malachi, they appealed to the Torah as we have recorded in the five books of Moses, which we can by God's grace still read today. They did not appeal to an unwritten Oral tradition. So in this paper we will mainly follow the prophetic method of appealing either to the Torah or to the writings of other prophets. If the Mishnah, Gemara or Midrash, elucidate and do not contradict the five books of Moses, praise be to Yah we can learn from them. However if the Oral Torah in any way contradicts the Written Torah, we must side with the word of Moses and the prophets and in doing so we side with Elohim.
When Joshua met the Angel of Hashem, before he lead the people to conquer Jericho he asked the angel "Are you one of us or of our enemies?" The Angel replied. "No, I am captain of the Yahwah’s host. Now I have come."
Joshua had human concerns but the angel was moving on a whole different plane. It was like the question was irrelevant because the angel didn't answer the question- "Which side are you on?" because he was in charge of the whole thing. Now Joshua was challenged to show which side was he on. He took off his shoes and was no longer the one asking questions.
So it is with us. If the Oral Torah contradicts the Written Torah (The Torah of Yahwah), we listen to the Written Torah and the Oral is subject to it. This process is reasonable because with that which is written we can present very clear evidence that what we have is what Moses or Joshua wrote. An Oral tradition is fine, however it cannot be said to be as reliable as that which was written and maintained in a hard copy. Moses was told by Yahwah to write the written Torah and why if an Oral tradition would have been quite enough?
Why, if an Oral tradition would be as helpful as the written, did Yahwah choose to write the 10 commandments with his own finger?
He had already spoken the words.
Why take the energy to write them and have them placed in the Ark?
Then we have the wonderful example of Yoshiyahu. An amazing career of turning a whole nation back to the worship of Yahwah. However clearly according to the Rabbis the Oral tradition would have been there from his childhood. However it was when Hilkiah found the Scroll of the Torah in the temple and when it was read in the ears of Yoshiyahu that the repentance of the nation was effected. It was the reading of the Scroll of the Torah that touched that tender king’s heart. And Yahwah saw his heart. After his repentance he sent to a prophetess to find out what needed to be done about what had been read. Clearly if the Oral Tradition was present at that time it had not the same effect on Yoshiyahu as the reading of the Written Torah had. Then we read of his amazing reforms and they are all in accordance with the written Torah.
If an Oral tradition is as effective and of equal authority to a written tradition, why was Jeremiah told to dictate and have Baruch Son of Neriah write all the words he had received from Yahwah, about Judah and Jerusalem down on a scroll?
Yahwah said to Jeremiah that maybe if the people, through reading the words he had received, might hear, understand and repent. The written word clearly carried an authority the spoken word did not carry. At the end of every seven years the people were told to read through the whole written Torah (They could not have read an oral Torah) and every one was to listen. They were not told at the same time to recite the Oral Torah as well.
Clearly that which was vitally important for the community, and for eternity, Yahwah had written. And thanks to this more than two billion people have had opportunity to come to a knowledge of the one true God of Israel. The followers of Yeshua through their love for Elohim have lovingly translated the Tanakhm into thousands of languages. As a result through their diligent work and love millions of people around the earth now have an opportunity to turn from Idolatry and to worship the only true Elohim, as Rambam admits in Hilchot Melachim). My family and I only learned of the Eloah of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, through the witness of the Christians. There knowledge came through the written Tanach not an Oral tradition, although it was through the preaching orally of that which has been written and handed down that we come to a relationship with the living Elohim. As it is written by one source, "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Elohim".
So let us love and thank Elohim for his mercies to all mankind in giving them the written Tanakhm.
Tanakh the "Only Testament"?
(1) Why do you call the Tanakh the Only Testament? If we are seeking to correct peoples’ errors we do not do this best by perpetuating erroneous terms. The word testament has really nothing to do with Covenant. They certainly do not mean the same thing. The Scriptures referred to by this term are best called Tanakh. And the idea behind Old and New is really referring to the Jeremiah 31 prophecy. Where the prophet Jeremiah is told by Yahwah to say:
" See a time is coming -declares Yahwah- when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah"
Clearly here Jeremiah is prophesying something future. Since he uses the term "See a time is coming"- he is clearly pointing to the future. He also commands the reader or listener "to see" or "to behold". We then have to find out: When did Jeremiah make this prophecy? and what are we to look for in Israel for the future?
It is clear we are to look for a Brit Chadasha, a New Covenant. We are to look for it in the future, in the midst of the House of Israel and Judah. We need to recognise that Jeremiah says New Covenant. However that would appear to suggest there was an Old Covenant. Well we ask was there an old Covenant being referred to? Well, Jeremiah contrasts this future covenant with a covenant made on a specific date in the History of the Sons of Israel.
He says "It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took by the hand to lead them out of Egypt"
So Jeremiah is telling us that future to early 6th century BCE Yahwah is planning to make a covenant with the House of Israel. Jeremiah was writing around 900 years after the covenant which the New Covenant is being contrasted with. A covenant is sometimes called an agreement. It usually took place between two parties, in those days usually between a sovereign and his vassals. Both parties took upon themselves parts of the covenant. Now Yahwah says that Israel broke the covenant. That means they did not keep their part of the covenant. In those days covenants came with a list of the blessings for keeping the covenant and curses for breaking it. Yahwah said the earlier covenant was a "covenant which they broke"
The Fathers of Israel and Judah broke the covenant
Then he goes on describe the characteristics of the future covenant. We only need to look over Israeli history from 6th century BC onward to see if God has made any such covenant with the House of Israel afterwards.
And if we find such a Brit Chadasha then we may have found what Jeremiah was talking about. If one cannot see one in all the History of Israel from the 6th BC to today this doesn't change the fact that Yahwah has promised one and his word never returns to him with out accomplishing that for which he sent it forth. We need to search the History of Israel from Jeremiah to today. Maybe we will find the covenant among the Rabbis. Perhaps one of the Rabbis expounded such a covenant to Israel in the second temple period when they were a nation again. If not we need to look at Israel from lets say 1948 onwards when they were reborn as a nation. Has God made a covenant with them since then?
We note that the covenant it is contrasted with, is the one established after they came out of Egypt, not the one G-d made with Abraham. Abraham did not break his covenant and the New Covenant will be made exactly because of the covenant Yahwah made with Abraham which is an everlasting covenant. The covenant is a covenant of the heart." I will put my teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts." We note that because Elohim puts his Spirit in the heart of the people of this covenant, it is a covenant which by its nature will not and perhaps can not be broken. The first covenant failed because Israel broke it. This covenant is made with the whole intention to improve on the weakness which was shown forth by the first covenant. So by the Spirit of Elohim writing the Torah on the hearts and minds of the people of the New Covenant, and causing them to walk in Yahwah's statues and commandments it a covenant of Elohim with himself, in the Spirit of Messiah. It will not be broken.
In the above quote the translator translates the word Torah as teaching. This is a Jewish translation and it is showing that the word Torah means more than simply a set of laws. We would expect this New Covenant to reflect this. After Israel received the covenant, that they later broke they said "We Will Obey"
But by the time their children were entering the land of promise, Yahwah was saying to Moses "You are soon to lie with your fathers. This people will thereupon go astray after alien Elohim in there midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake me and break my Covenant that I made with them."
Then God gave Moses a song to witness against Israel for all time. In contrast to this the New Covenant will be one which Israel will keep. Even as Yeshua son of Nun was with Israel when they entered the land and although the people broke the covenant he and his house did not. He at the end of his ministry had to tell the people:
"Now therefore, revere the Yahwah and serve him with undivided loyalty; put away the Elohim that your forefathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Yahwah...but I and my household we will serve the Yahwah.
Now the people reply to Yeshua: "We too will serve the Yahwah, for he is our Elohim."
But Yeshua son of Nun is a prophet and knowing their hearts replied " You will not be able to serve the Yahwah, for he is a Holy Elohim."
During the time of Yeshua son of Nun, Israel and the elders who succeeded him, Israel served the Yahwah. But still because of the Holiness of the Yahwah,
they as Yeshua said were not able to maintain the service of the Yahwah.
Who is the Yahwah and what unity is his unity?
Now we come to the crux of the issues we are dealing with. The unity of Elohim. We need commentary by the prophets on this subject for the Spirit of the Yahwah and the word of the Yahwah are our teachers, not man. So we will take the passages which our Rabbi has chosen to support his understanding of the unity of Elohim. And we will allow them to teach us.
Our Rabbi has used the teachings of the following prophets: Moses, Isaiah, Zechariah and Amos. So he used the teachings of these four prophets out of the more than 17 prophets who have written books in the Tanakh, we will let two of these four prophets illustrate their own teachings.
We can start by saying that we all agree that there is only one true Elohim, the Creator of all things. The question is "Is their plurality in that Elohim as the Hebrew noun Elohim would indicate? Is his true nature plurality in unity and unity in plurality?
Then the more specific question is: Does he have one uncreated Son who was with him in creation? The Son goes under various titles such as the Word or the Wisdom or Salvation of Elohim. And does he have a Spirit who was also there in creating the universe, but like the Father and the Son, is also uncreated and remains Elohim, forever. We know this all comes by revelation. We can not understand the infinite Elohim with our finite minds.
Moses on Moses.
(1) "Hear Israel, Hashem is Our God , Hashem is the Only One."
Or another translation reads: "'Hear, O Israel! Yahwah is our God, Yahwah alone"
Or Transliterated " Shema Israel Yahwah Eloheinu, Yahwah Echad"
(Note Eloheinu is noun, masculine, plural with a first person, common, plural, suffix . We point out that the word is plural. However because Yahwah goes on to say he is one we know there is a unique unity being referred to here. Not only this but the word is used as a plural in number more that one hundred times in the Tanakh (See Shmoth 20 and Tehillim 82). So the burden of proof as to the type of unity lies in the lap of those who claim there is no plurality in the nature of Elohim. For the plurality is there in the word Elohim and in the word Echad. These are words Elohim gave Moses to communicate to Israel as to his nature. He is our authority. We must not pervert the scriptures by the lying pen of the scribes, as people did in the time of Jeremiah. We must listen to what Yahwah teaches us by his messengers and missionaries the prophets. These are the missionaries given the mission to take the word of God to Israel and the Goyim that are called by the name of Yahwah.
So the noun, Elohim here is plural. The proper noun, Yahwah, is singular. Here we already see the richness of our Elohim. Echad is one of two words for one in Hebrew. It denotes primacy according to one Rabbi and composite unity according to many sources. The other word for one in Hebrew is Yachid which denotes indivisible unity. If Moses wanted to remove all sources of plurality and in this case confusion he could have used Yachid, then the Messianic Jew and the Gentiles called by his name would have no case. But Moses did not, by the authority of Yahwah he used the word for "one" which did not exclude plurality but included or implied it. An early example of the use of the word Echad in the Torah, by Moses, is in Bereshit 2:24. Here it is said "and they shall become Echad flesh". So here we have two people, Adam and Eve and yet they have become Echad flesh. Two people, one flesh. Now our Rabbi could, based on his understanding of Echad shout and proclaim the absolute unity of the flesh in marriage. But this oneness of flesh does not exclude the plurality of persons included in that oneness.
So we can ask of the Torah of Moses certain questions regarding his understanding of the Shema and the words included in it. We will find Moses a very good commentator on Moses.
Does Yahwah always speak in the singular thus ensuring that our Rabbis concept of absolute oneness is maintained throughout his writings?
The conversations with in Yahwah.
"Hear Israel Yahwah"
The answer to this question is no. Yahwah reveals to Moses that he spoke in the plural more than once, thus pointing to plurality with in Elohim. The first scripture is
"Now Yahwah Elohim said "Now that the man has become like one of US."
But perhaps this was just a plural of majesty which the later Rabbis claim.
No No. Yahwah majesty resides eternally. If he speaks with such majesty he would do so at all times. However in the same chapter Yahwah says to the serpent
"I will put emnity between you and the woman"
Here Yahwah is clearly speaking in the singular
Again he says to the Women
"I will make most severe your pangs in childrearing."
Again it is "I" singular as opposed to "Us" plural which Yahwah uses later.
Are there any other cases where Yahwah speaks in the plural ?
From Moses I will give you one more case:
While mankind was busy saying "Come let us make bricks...Come let us build a city, and a tower with its top in the sky.."
Yahwah was responding " Let us then, go down and confound their speech, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech"
So we have here many people saying "let us" and immediately we have Yahwah saying "let us"
Both imply plurality in unity and unity in plurality. For it is said of the people they were "Echad people" and it is said of Yahwah, "Yahwah is Echad".
We can note that when Yahwah speaks within Elohim he speaks with plurality "Let us" When he speaks to man he speaks as singular "I will make of you a great nation" This principle is not rigid for regarding Abraham, Yahwah said
"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?"
So we see that Yahwah jumps between singular and plural when he is speaking with in his divine being. To him who accepts revelation and not mans wisdom, it is clear Elohim his consulting his Word and his Spirit. But to him who walks by mans philosophy and not the wisdom of Elohim, what we say makes no sense.
This concludes our look at the name Yahwah and his speaking in the plural as revealed to Moses. Yahwah then most certainly speaks in the plural. But does Elohim speak in the plural?
The Conversations within Elohim
Hear Israel Yahwah Eloheinu.
We have already noted that this word can be analysed as the noun Elohim,
In construct form Elohei- with a first common plural suffix - nu- .
Of the noun Elohim we can say the following. It is used over 150 times in the
Tanakh as a number plural. That is, it was definitely used to refer to more that one entity. In the first of the 10 commandments Yahwah states "You shall have no Elohim besides me". Here in the 10 commandments, Elohim is almost always translated "gods’ and in one case "mighty ones". It is clearly a plural word. Then we go on to ask if Elohim ever speaks in the plural? The answer again is yes. We again refer to Moses, Bereshit 1. And Elohim said "Let us make man in our image in our likeness" And just in case some scribe would come along and say he was talking to the ordinary angels, the scripture reiterates. "So Elohim created man in his image; in the image of Elohim he created him; male and female he created them." So here again we see the clear statement linking plurality and unity together. The verb is in the form of a 3rd person masculine singular. It is combined with a noun in the form masculine plural. The first pronouns are plural pronouns ‘us and our’
And the final pronoun is singular "his".
The powerful concept of the plurality in the unity of Elohim without any doctoring or reinterpreting by man. Elohim speaks clearly and no more clearly than he does when Moses clarifies Moses.
If the Oral Torah confirms the great light we have in Moses then praise Elohim we can learn from the rabbis. But if they contradict the clear testimony of Moses in the Torah, about Yahwah Elohim we must refrain from accepting their word.
The Shema
The Shema is seen as a commandment in both the Tanakh and the Messianic Scriptures recording the New Covenant. It is not just any commandment. According to the Messiah it is the greatest commandment. According to Rabbi Joseph. J. Fogel "It is the most important part of our prayer service"
"It is the Rabbis who raised the six Hebrew words "ShemA Israel Yahwah Eloheinu Yahwah EchaD" to a declaration of faith"
Kabbalah’s agreement with the New Covenant
The Ayin at the end of Shema and the Daleth at the end of Echad are in larger text in the Torah than the rest of the Shema. The value of Ayin is 70 and the value of Daleth is 4. Seventy is the number of the nations (Gen 10) and four is the number of the cardinal points of the compass. How can we understand this then. It can be interpreted that the unity of Yahwah is not just to be heard by Israel, but through them this knowledge is to spread to the all 70 nations at the four corners of the earth.
Hear O Nations, Yahwah Eloheinu Yahwah is One in all the earth. Will be the cry when the knowledge of the only true Elohim has finished spreading itself among all nations by virtue of his Messiah Yeshua and the Yehudim and the Goyim called by his name.
I would like to quote from a message I wrote on the Secrets of the Gospel to illustrate how the Kaballah agrees with the Tanakh and New Covenant revelation of God.
"Gematria is a method of kaballah, based on the relative values of hebrew words. Every letter in the hebrew alphabet is a number. Consequently every word in the scripture has a number. In the New Testament it is the same for the Greek words. I will give 3 examples.
The number of the name of the Beast in the Revelation is said to add to 666. So when we know his name will be able to confirm by taking each letter of his name and finding their numerical value.
The name of Yeshua in the Tanakh comes under two heads. (I) Yehoshua or Y.H.I.Sh.A and Y.sh.I.A.,
The first equals 391 and the second 386. Y=10 H=5 I = 6 Sh=300 A=70.
The name of Yahwah YHWH is 26 Y= 10 H=5 W= 6 H= 5
Notariqon comes from a Greek word meaning short hand. There are two forms to this method of Kaballah. The first is where each letter of a word is taken as the initial letter of another word. So in this case the particular word will become an Acronym for a sentence. We will use the first word of the Bible for illustration of this method. The first word is B-R-A-Sh-I-T, (in the beginning of)
the Jewish qabalist has made the following sentence from these letters:
Berashit Rahi Elohim Sheyequeblo Israel Torah.
In the beginning the Elohim saw that Israel would accept the Torah.
And some Jewish Kabalists began to follow Yeshua the Mashiach after seeing the following sentences were developed in the same way with the same letters:
Ben, Ruach, Ab, Shaloshethem Yechad Themim.
The Son, The Spirit, The Father, Their Trinity, Perfect Unity.
(iii) Ben, Ruach, Ab, Shaloshethem Yechad Thaubodo
The Son, The Spirit., The Father You shall equally worship their Trinity
Bekori, Rashuni, Asher, Shamo Yeshua Thuabodo.
You shall worship my first born, my first whose name is Yeshua
(v) Beboa Rabban Asher Shamo Yeshua , Thaubado
When the master shall come whose name is Yeshua you shall worship.
Bethula Raviah Abachar Shethaled Yeshua Thrashroah.
I will chose a virgin worthy to bring forth Yeshua , and you shall call her blessed.
Baugoth Ratzephim Assatar Shegophi Yeshuah Thakelo
I will hide myself in cake (baked with) coals, Ye shall eat Yeshua my body.
The last six examples have come from a certain Solomon Meir Ben Moses who turned to Yeshua in 1665.
(a)If we look at the first three letters of the Torah we see they are B-R-A, this Kabalistically can be read Son (Ben), Spirit (Ruach) and Father (Abba). They are also the root of the verb to Created Bara, he created. Pointing to the one God, Son, Spirit and Father, as creator.(b)The Tanakh is written in two languages, Hebrew and Aramaic. The word for Son in Aramaic is BaR. Again we see the first two letters of the Torah pointing to the Son.
© In the alephbet the Jewish Kabalistic Rabbi’s always take Aleph as a symbol for God, because its number is one. However they then go on to look at the shape of the letter. And without fail they say it is made of three parts. Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet, Phd follows this process in the intorduction to Gutman G. Locks Spice of Gematria. He says "The first letter of the aleph-bet is aleph. Its Gematria is one. The aleph is written combining a Yod, a Vav and a Yod which equals 26. The Gematria of God’s name is 26 thereby revealing God is one". So to Rabbi Schochet the very three parts of Aleph reveal the oneness of God. This process of breaking aleph up into three parts I have seen repeated numerous times by many Rabbis. So the revelation of God’s unity in the New Covenant is completely consistent with what the Rabbi’s teach among themselves. Even if they deny it to truth seekers and Christians they must know the plain truth in their hearts.
Rav Shimon Bar Yochai agrees with the New Covenant
Now we will have a look at what the Zohar has to say about Yahwah. This is the explanation of a Jewish Rabbi Shimon Bar Jochai (Sohar Vol iii).
"Eliezer’s father said to him: Come and see the mystery of the word, Yahuwah: there are three steps, each existing by itself; nevertheless they are One, and so united that one cannot be separated from the other"
Does this not sound very much like the New Covenant revelation of Yahwah?
In the same vol of the Zohar page 288 the Rabbi continues:
"The Ancient Holy One is revealed with three Heads, which are united in one and that head is thrice exalted. The Ancient Holy One is described as being Three; it is because the other Lights emanating from Him are included in the Three"
So now we have a background to understand the other writings of Moses our Rabbi cites.
"Know therefore this day and consider it in your heart that Yahwah he is Elohim."
Isaiah on Isaiah.
"I am He, before me no El was created, neither shall there be after me." 43:10
"Thus says Yahwah, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, Yahwah of Hosts; I am the First and the Last, and beside me there is no Elohim." (Is 44:6).
"I am Yahwah and there is no one else"
Let us love him for who He is, let us lovingly meditate on the King of Israel, the Redeemer of Israel, Yahwah,Yahwah Tzvaoth and his unique unity.
So we can again consult the writings of the prophet Isaiah on the peshat level to see if he is consistent with the plurality in unity of Elohim as revealed to us through Moses. As it was said to one person we cannot even think to understand the Great and Awesome Elohim who created the universe. How can a finite man understand an infinite Elohim. It is impossible. As one writer has said. " in the wisdom of Elohim the world through its wisdom did not come to know Elohim".
So all the great thinking Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and others who set up many thinking systems of logic and philosophy, did not come to know Elohim. But Daniel in having the Spirit of Elohim was able to understand mysteries which all the wise men of Babylon could not come close to. So it is that we as men are dependent on the Spirit of Elohim to reveal Elohim to us. In our own thinking we stand little chance of comprehending the Awesome truth of Elohim’s unique unity. There is no unity like his unity and this is not surprising because he is beyond anything we have ever come across in the world, he is the thrice Holy one the thrice separated one according to the song of the burning ones (Seraphim).
Let us as we study the scriptures love Yahwah with all that we are.
So does Isaiah agree with Moses in showing the different aspects of Yahwah Elohim? I say this, that if any prophet came who spoke contrary to Moses and tried to draw the people after another god who is in fact no god, under the Moses administration , then they would need to be put to death.
"I shall make mention of the lovingkindnesses of Yahwah, the praises of Yahwah, according to all that Yahwah has granted us and according to the great goodness toward the House of Israel….. For He said Surely they are my people, Sons who will not deal falsely, So he became their Saviour (Moshia).
In all their affliction he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them; In his love and in his mercy, He redeemed them; And he lifted them and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit."
So here we see that he is first Father because he called his people Sons. We see that he became Moshia(Saviour). This is also the role of the Messiah Yeshua. Finally it is Et Ruach Chodeshu, (His Holy Spirit) that they rebelled against. So here we have again clear support of the plurality in the unity of Elohim. Some commentators say that the Holy Spirit is a certain level of godliness in the path of the Just. They place him between Chassidut and the Revival of the dead. However the Tanach does not teach this, although the Holy Spirit has taken this role in the history of redemption. Here, in the text, it is his (Yahwah's) Holy Spirit. We know that Yahwah is Holy and therefore it is no surprise that the Spirit of Yahwah will also be Holy. Since it is His, it is one with him. When the Spirit of Yahwah comes on people they can begin to prophesy words of Elohim.
We move to Isaiah 12:
God is my Yeshua
I will give thanks to thee. O Yahwah…
Behold El is my Yeshua,
I will trust and not be afraid for Yah Yahwah is my strength and song and has become to me Yeshuah."
So here again we see that Yahwah at some point reveals himself as Yeshua which means salvation.
This verse just shows us that El is my Yeshua. This is a song individuals from Israel who receive Yeshua as their great El and Moshia, sing today. It is in the singular because individuals an Israelite remnant are repenting today. When the whole of Israel turns the whole song will be different.
Isaiah 48:15-16
I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him,
I have brought him and He will make his ways successful.
Come near to me, Listen to this:
From the first I have not spoken in secret,
From the time that it took place I was there.
And now Adonai Yahwah has sent me,
And his Spirit.
Again the threefold aspect of Elohim is shown.
Let us then love Yahwah as he is, not as we imagine him to be.
We will not repeat all the points about the plurality of the noun Elohim. This was established in our commentary on Moses. However we note that El is a singular noun referring to Yahwah. As contrasted with Elohim which is a plural noun.
The accusation against Christian messengers
Our Rabbis goes on to say, "we see just how deceitful and evil the Christian missionaries are. They prey on the ignorant and the uneducated, by feeding them lies and distortions about G-d and the Messiah"
Here we have a very strong accusation by the Rabbi against people he calls "Christian missionaries".
As Messiah has said " For every idle word a man speaks he will have to give an account for it on the day of judgement" So firstly we can say that the Rabbi will be judged for his accusations. He is upset because he says "Christianity and their fraudulent, missionaries believe that G-d is divided into three parts"
Well we have seen above from Moses and the way G-d revealed himself to him that the main common noun referring to G-d is plural. We find from Isaiah, three roles Father, Saviour, and Holy Spirit and Rabbi Shimon Bar Jochai that there is a revelation of "three steps" or "three heads" in Elohim or in Yahwah. So these teachings are firstly prophetic and secondly shown to originate with the Jewish Rabbis who wrote the Zohar. Since it is claimed that the Zohar contains some secrets of the Torah, our Jewish friend will put the teaching squarely on the head of Moses. So our Christians are really being honest to Moses the prophets and the faithful Rabbis when they teach their revelation of Elohim.
Dear Seeker of Truth,
As you read this meditation let us pray that Yahwah the God of truth (Elohei emet) will lead you into all truth. We are commanded to love Yahwah our Elohim (God) with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, let us pray for Yahwah's Spirit to enable us to do this.
I write this response to the pamphlet as a way of learning more about the Creator, all mankind will one-day worship. It is a critical response designed to bring the reader closer to the truth of the teaching of the TaNaKhM (the Bible). For the sake of the Rabbi, I will try to elucidate the ideas with only the Tanakh and Jewish authorities. This to counter the accusation that the ideas contained were made up by Gentiles or messengers of the Almighty who follow the Christian (Messianic ) faith.
The pamphlet, I am responding to, is labeled the "Absolute Unity of God". I would like to ask why is it not entitled "The Unity or Oneness of Hashem". Why is the term Absolute in there at all? Does the term "Absolute Unity" come up anywhere at all in the Tanakhm. If not, then is it possible that the writer is defending a concept of human invention even as the title is of his own invention? Prophets wrote the Tanakh and none of them used the Term "Absolute Unity", why not? I will tell you why I think they did not, because the prophets wrote and spoke what Elohim told them to write or speak. They wrote and spoke what Elohim wanted his people Israel and the Gentiles called by his name to know. Anything added is elucidation in the hands of man. This is permissible. But let us always remember the writings of the prophets carry a far higher authority in determining truth than any of the writings which came afterwards, by men who did not reach the level of prophecy in their teachings. So let us love Yahwah our Elohim with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. And treat this as a study of his teaching (Torah) out of our love for him.
The Written Torah and the Oral Torah
We must accept the written Torah as the highest authority. For we find, in by far the majority of the cases, that when a prophet spoke or wrote whether Samuel or Malachi, they appealed to the Torah as we have recorded in the five books of Moses, which we can by God's grace still read today. They did not appeal to an unwritten Oral tradition. So in this paper we will mainly follow the prophetic method of appealing either to the Torah or to the writings of other prophets. If the Mishnah, Gemara or Midrash, elucidate and do not contradict the five books of Moses, praise be to Yah we can learn from them. However if the Oral Torah in any way contradicts the Written Torah, we must side with the word of Moses and the prophets and in doing so we side with Elohim.
When Joshua met the Angel of Hashem, before he lead the people to conquer Jericho he asked the angel "Are you one of us or of our enemies?" The Angel replied. "No, I am captain of the Yahwah’s host. Now I have come."
Joshua had human concerns but the angel was moving on a whole different plane. It was like the question was irrelevant because the angel didn't answer the question- "Which side are you on?" because he was in charge of the whole thing. Now Joshua was challenged to show which side was he on. He took off his shoes and was no longer the one asking questions.
So it is with us. If the Oral Torah contradicts the Written Torah (The Torah of Yahwah), we listen to the Written Torah and the Oral is subject to it. This process is reasonable because with that which is written we can present very clear evidence that what we have is what Moses or Joshua wrote. An Oral tradition is fine, however it cannot be said to be as reliable as that which was written and maintained in a hard copy. Moses was told by Yahwah to write the written Torah and why if an Oral tradition would have been quite enough?
Why, if an Oral tradition would be as helpful as the written, did Yahwah choose to write the 10 commandments with his own finger?
He had already spoken the words.
Why take the energy to write them and have them placed in the Ark?
Then we have the wonderful example of Yoshiyahu. An amazing career of turning a whole nation back to the worship of Yahwah. However clearly according to the Rabbis the Oral tradition would have been there from his childhood. However it was when Hilkiah found the Scroll of the Torah in the temple and when it was read in the ears of Yoshiyahu that the repentance of the nation was effected. It was the reading of the Scroll of the Torah that touched that tender king’s heart. And Yahwah saw his heart. After his repentance he sent to a prophetess to find out what needed to be done about what had been read. Clearly if the Oral Tradition was present at that time it had not the same effect on Yoshiyahu as the reading of the Written Torah had. Then we read of his amazing reforms and they are all in accordance with the written Torah.
If an Oral tradition is as effective and of equal authority to a written tradition, why was Jeremiah told to dictate and have Baruch Son of Neriah write all the words he had received from Yahwah, about Judah and Jerusalem down on a scroll?
Yahwah said to Jeremiah that maybe if the people, through reading the words he had received, might hear, understand and repent. The written word clearly carried an authority the spoken word did not carry. At the end of every seven years the people were told to read through the whole written Torah (They could not have read an oral Torah) and every one was to listen. They were not told at the same time to recite the Oral Torah as well.
Clearly that which was vitally important for the community, and for eternity, Yahwah had written. And thanks to this more than two billion people have had opportunity to come to a knowledge of the one true God of Israel. The followers of Yeshua through their love for Elohim have lovingly translated the Tanakhm into thousands of languages. As a result through their diligent work and love millions of people around the earth now have an opportunity to turn from Idolatry and to worship the only true Elohim, as Rambam admits in Hilchot Melachim). My family and I only learned of the Eloah of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, through the witness of the Christians. There knowledge came through the written Tanach not an Oral tradition, although it was through the preaching orally of that which has been written and handed down that we come to a relationship with the living Elohim. As it is written by one source, "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Elohim".
So let us love and thank Elohim for his mercies to all mankind in giving them the written Tanakhm.
Tanakh the "Only Testament"?
(1) Why do you call the Tanakh the Only Testament? If we are seeking to correct peoples’ errors we do not do this best by perpetuating erroneous terms. The word testament has really nothing to do with Covenant. They certainly do not mean the same thing. The Scriptures referred to by this term are best called Tanakh. And the idea behind Old and New is really referring to the Jeremiah 31 prophecy. Where the prophet Jeremiah is told by Yahwah to say:
" See a time is coming -declares Yahwah- when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah"
Clearly here Jeremiah is prophesying something future. Since he uses the term "See a time is coming"- he is clearly pointing to the future. He also commands the reader or listener "to see" or "to behold". We then have to find out: When did Jeremiah make this prophecy? and what are we to look for in Israel for the future?
It is clear we are to look for a Brit Chadasha, a New Covenant. We are to look for it in the future, in the midst of the House of Israel and Judah. We need to recognise that Jeremiah says New Covenant. However that would appear to suggest there was an Old Covenant. Well we ask was there an old Covenant being referred to? Well, Jeremiah contrasts this future covenant with a covenant made on a specific date in the History of the Sons of Israel.
He says "It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took by the hand to lead them out of Egypt"
So Jeremiah is telling us that future to early 6th century BCE Yahwah is planning to make a covenant with the House of Israel. Jeremiah was writing around 900 years after the covenant which the New Covenant is being contrasted with. A covenant is sometimes called an agreement. It usually took place between two parties, in those days usually between a sovereign and his vassals. Both parties took upon themselves parts of the covenant. Now Yahwah says that Israel broke the covenant. That means they did not keep their part of the covenant. In those days covenants came with a list of the blessings for keeping the covenant and curses for breaking it. Yahwah said the earlier covenant was a "covenant which they broke"
The Fathers of Israel and Judah broke the covenant
Then he goes on describe the characteristics of the future covenant. We only need to look over Israeli history from 6th century BC onward to see if God has made any such covenant with the House of Israel afterwards.
And if we find such a Brit Chadasha then we may have found what Jeremiah was talking about. If one cannot see one in all the History of Israel from the 6th BC to today this doesn't change the fact that Yahwah has promised one and his word never returns to him with out accomplishing that for which he sent it forth. We need to search the History of Israel from Jeremiah to today. Maybe we will find the covenant among the Rabbis. Perhaps one of the Rabbis expounded such a covenant to Israel in the second temple period when they were a nation again. If not we need to look at Israel from lets say 1948 onwards when they were reborn as a nation. Has God made a covenant with them since then?
We note that the covenant it is contrasted with, is the one established after they came out of Egypt, not the one G-d made with Abraham. Abraham did not break his covenant and the New Covenant will be made exactly because of the covenant Yahwah made with Abraham which is an everlasting covenant. The covenant is a covenant of the heart." I will put my teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts." We note that because Elohim puts his Spirit in the heart of the people of this covenant, it is a covenant which by its nature will not and perhaps can not be broken. The first covenant failed because Israel broke it. This covenant is made with the whole intention to improve on the weakness which was shown forth by the first covenant. So by the Spirit of Elohim writing the Torah on the hearts and minds of the people of the New Covenant, and causing them to walk in Yahwah's statues and commandments it a covenant of Elohim with himself, in the Spirit of Messiah. It will not be broken.
In the above quote the translator translates the word Torah as teaching. This is a Jewish translation and it is showing that the word Torah means more than simply a set of laws. We would expect this New Covenant to reflect this. After Israel received the covenant, that they later broke they said "We Will Obey"
But by the time their children were entering the land of promise, Yahwah was saying to Moses "You are soon to lie with your fathers. This people will thereupon go astray after alien Elohim in there midst, in the land that they are about to enter; they will forsake me and break my Covenant that I made with them."
Then God gave Moses a song to witness against Israel for all time. In contrast to this the New Covenant will be one which Israel will keep. Even as Yeshua son of Nun was with Israel when they entered the land and although the people broke the covenant he and his house did not. He at the end of his ministry had to tell the people:
"Now therefore, revere the Yahwah and serve him with undivided loyalty; put away the Elohim that your forefathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Yahwah...but I and my household we will serve the Yahwah.
Now the people reply to Yeshua: "We too will serve the Yahwah, for he is our Elohim."
But Yeshua son of Nun is a prophet and knowing their hearts replied " You will not be able to serve the Yahwah, for he is a Holy Elohim."
During the time of Yeshua son of Nun, Israel and the elders who succeeded him, Israel served the Yahwah. But still because of the Holiness of the Yahwah,
they as Yeshua said were not able to maintain the service of the Yahwah.
Who is the Yahwah and what unity is his unity?
Now we come to the crux of the issues we are dealing with. The unity of Elohim. We need commentary by the prophets on this subject for the Spirit of the Yahwah and the word of the Yahwah are our teachers, not man. So we will take the passages which our Rabbi has chosen to support his understanding of the unity of Elohim. And we will allow them to teach us.
Our Rabbi has used the teachings of the following prophets: Moses, Isaiah, Zechariah and Amos. So he used the teachings of these four prophets out of the more than 17 prophets who have written books in the Tanakh, we will let two of these four prophets illustrate their own teachings.
We can start by saying that we all agree that there is only one true Elohim, the Creator of all things. The question is "Is their plurality in that Elohim as the Hebrew noun Elohim would indicate? Is his true nature plurality in unity and unity in plurality?
Then the more specific question is: Does he have one uncreated Son who was with him in creation? The Son goes under various titles such as the Word or the Wisdom or Salvation of Elohim. And does he have a Spirit who was also there in creating the universe, but like the Father and the Son, is also uncreated and remains Elohim, forever. We know this all comes by revelation. We can not understand the infinite Elohim with our finite minds.
Moses on Moses.
(1) "Hear Israel, Hashem is Our God , Hashem is the Only One."
Or another translation reads: "'Hear, O Israel! Yahwah is our God, Yahwah alone"
Or Transliterated " Shema Israel Yahwah Eloheinu, Yahwah Echad"
(Note Eloheinu is noun, masculine, plural with a first person, common, plural, suffix . We point out that the word is plural. However because Yahwah goes on to say he is one we know there is a unique unity being referred to here. Not only this but the word is used as a plural in number more that one hundred times in the Tanakh (See Shmoth 20 and Tehillim 82). So the burden of proof as to the type of unity lies in the lap of those who claim there is no plurality in the nature of Elohim. For the plurality is there in the word Elohim and in the word Echad. These are words Elohim gave Moses to communicate to Israel as to his nature. He is our authority. We must not pervert the scriptures by the lying pen of the scribes, as people did in the time of Jeremiah. We must listen to what Yahwah teaches us by his messengers and missionaries the prophets. These are the missionaries given the mission to take the word of God to Israel and the Goyim that are called by the name of Yahwah.
So the noun, Elohim here is plural. The proper noun, Yahwah, is singular. Here we already see the richness of our Elohim. Echad is one of two words for one in Hebrew. It denotes primacy according to one Rabbi and composite unity according to many sources. The other word for one in Hebrew is Yachid which denotes indivisible unity. If Moses wanted to remove all sources of plurality and in this case confusion he could have used Yachid, then the Messianic Jew and the Gentiles called by his name would have no case. But Moses did not, by the authority of Yahwah he used the word for "one" which did not exclude plurality but included or implied it. An early example of the use of the word Echad in the Torah, by Moses, is in Bereshit 2:24. Here it is said "and they shall become Echad flesh". So here we have two people, Adam and Eve and yet they have become Echad flesh. Two people, one flesh. Now our Rabbi could, based on his understanding of Echad shout and proclaim the absolute unity of the flesh in marriage. But this oneness of flesh does not exclude the plurality of persons included in that oneness.
So we can ask of the Torah of Moses certain questions regarding his understanding of the Shema and the words included in it. We will find Moses a very good commentator on Moses.
Does Yahwah always speak in the singular thus ensuring that our Rabbis concept of absolute oneness is maintained throughout his writings?
The conversations with in Yahwah.
"Hear Israel Yahwah"
The answer to this question is no. Yahwah reveals to Moses that he spoke in the plural more than once, thus pointing to plurality with in Elohim. The first scripture is
"Now Yahwah Elohim said "Now that the man has become like one of US."
But perhaps this was just a plural of majesty which the later Rabbis claim.
No No. Yahwah majesty resides eternally. If he speaks with such majesty he would do so at all times. However in the same chapter Yahwah says to the serpent
"I will put emnity between you and the woman"
Here Yahwah is clearly speaking in the singular
Again he says to the Women
"I will make most severe your pangs in childrearing."
Again it is "I" singular as opposed to "Us" plural which Yahwah uses later.
Are there any other cases where Yahwah speaks in the plural ?
From Moses I will give you one more case:
While mankind was busy saying "Come let us make bricks...Come let us build a city, and a tower with its top in the sky.."
Yahwah was responding " Let us then, go down and confound their speech, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech"
So we have here many people saying "let us" and immediately we have Yahwah saying "let us"
Both imply plurality in unity and unity in plurality. For it is said of the people they were "Echad people" and it is said of Yahwah, "Yahwah is Echad".
We can note that when Yahwah speaks within Elohim he speaks with plurality "Let us" When he speaks to man he speaks as singular "I will make of you a great nation" This principle is not rigid for regarding Abraham, Yahwah said
"Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?"
So we see that Yahwah jumps between singular and plural when he is speaking with in his divine being. To him who accepts revelation and not mans wisdom, it is clear Elohim his consulting his Word and his Spirit. But to him who walks by mans philosophy and not the wisdom of Elohim, what we say makes no sense.
This concludes our look at the name Yahwah and his speaking in the plural as revealed to Moses. Yahwah then most certainly speaks in the plural. But does Elohim speak in the plural?
The Conversations within Elohim
Hear Israel Yahwah Eloheinu.
We have already noted that this word can be analysed as the noun Elohim,
In construct form Elohei- with a first common plural suffix - nu- .
Of the noun Elohim we can say the following. It is used over 150 times in the
Tanakh as a number plural. That is, it was definitely used to refer to more that one entity. In the first of the 10 commandments Yahwah states "You shall have no Elohim besides me". Here in the 10 commandments, Elohim is almost always translated "gods’ and in one case "mighty ones". It is clearly a plural word. Then we go on to ask if Elohim ever speaks in the plural? The answer again is yes. We again refer to Moses, Bereshit 1. And Elohim said "Let us make man in our image in our likeness" And just in case some scribe would come along and say he was talking to the ordinary angels, the scripture reiterates. "So Elohim created man in his image; in the image of Elohim he created him; male and female he created them." So here again we see the clear statement linking plurality and unity together. The verb is in the form of a 3rd person masculine singular. It is combined with a noun in the form masculine plural. The first pronouns are plural pronouns ‘us and our’
And the final pronoun is singular "his".
The powerful concept of the plurality in the unity of Elohim without any doctoring or reinterpreting by man. Elohim speaks clearly and no more clearly than he does when Moses clarifies Moses.
If the Oral Torah confirms the great light we have in Moses then praise Elohim we can learn from the rabbis. But if they contradict the clear testimony of Moses in the Torah, about Yahwah Elohim we must refrain from accepting their word.
The Shema
The Shema is seen as a commandment in both the Tanakh and the Messianic Scriptures recording the New Covenant. It is not just any commandment. According to the Messiah it is the greatest commandment. According to Rabbi Joseph. J. Fogel "It is the most important part of our prayer service"
"It is the Rabbis who raised the six Hebrew words "ShemA Israel Yahwah Eloheinu Yahwah EchaD" to a declaration of faith"
Kabbalah’s agreement with the New Covenant
The Ayin at the end of Shema and the Daleth at the end of Echad are in larger text in the Torah than the rest of the Shema. The value of Ayin is 70 and the value of Daleth is 4. Seventy is the number of the nations (Gen 10) and four is the number of the cardinal points of the compass. How can we understand this then. It can be interpreted that the unity of Yahwah is not just to be heard by Israel, but through them this knowledge is to spread to the all 70 nations at the four corners of the earth.
Hear O Nations, Yahwah Eloheinu Yahwah is One in all the earth. Will be the cry when the knowledge of the only true Elohim has finished spreading itself among all nations by virtue of his Messiah Yeshua and the Yehudim and the Goyim called by his name.
I would like to quote from a message I wrote on the Secrets of the Gospel to illustrate how the Kaballah agrees with the Tanakh and New Covenant revelation of God.
"Gematria is a method of kaballah, based on the relative values of hebrew words. Every letter in the hebrew alphabet is a number. Consequently every word in the scripture has a number. In the New Testament it is the same for the Greek words. I will give 3 examples.
The number of the name of the Beast in the Revelation is said to add to 666. So when we know his name will be able to confirm by taking each letter of his name and finding their numerical value.
The name of Yeshua in the Tanakh comes under two heads. (I) Yehoshua or Y.H.I.Sh.A and Y.sh.I.A.,
The first equals 391 and the second 386. Y=10 H=5 I = 6 Sh=300 A=70.
The name of Yahwah YHWH is 26 Y= 10 H=5 W= 6 H= 5
Notariqon comes from a Greek word meaning short hand. There are two forms to this method of Kaballah. The first is where each letter of a word is taken as the initial letter of another word. So in this case the particular word will become an Acronym for a sentence. We will use the first word of the Bible for illustration of this method. The first word is B-R-A-Sh-I-T, (in the beginning of)
the Jewish qabalist has made the following sentence from these letters:
Berashit Rahi Elohim Sheyequeblo Israel Torah.
In the beginning the Elohim saw that Israel would accept the Torah.
And some Jewish Kabalists began to follow Yeshua the Mashiach after seeing the following sentences were developed in the same way with the same letters:
Ben, Ruach, Ab, Shaloshethem Yechad Themim.
The Son, The Spirit, The Father, Their Trinity, Perfect Unity.
(iii) Ben, Ruach, Ab, Shaloshethem Yechad Thaubodo
The Son, The Spirit., The Father You shall equally worship their Trinity
Bekori, Rashuni, Asher, Shamo Yeshua Thuabodo.
You shall worship my first born, my first whose name is Yeshua
(v) Beboa Rabban Asher Shamo Yeshua , Thaubado
When the master shall come whose name is Yeshua you shall worship.
Bethula Raviah Abachar Shethaled Yeshua Thrashroah.
I will chose a virgin worthy to bring forth Yeshua , and you shall call her blessed.
Baugoth Ratzephim Assatar Shegophi Yeshuah Thakelo
I will hide myself in cake (baked with) coals, Ye shall eat Yeshua my body.
The last six examples have come from a certain Solomon Meir Ben Moses who turned to Yeshua in 1665.
(a)If we look at the first three letters of the Torah we see they are B-R-A, this Kabalistically can be read Son (Ben), Spirit (Ruach) and Father (Abba). They are also the root of the verb to Created Bara, he created. Pointing to the one God, Son, Spirit and Father, as creator.(b)The Tanakh is written in two languages, Hebrew and Aramaic. The word for Son in Aramaic is BaR. Again we see the first two letters of the Torah pointing to the Son.
© In the alephbet the Jewish Kabalistic Rabbi’s always take Aleph as a symbol for God, because its number is one. However they then go on to look at the shape of the letter. And without fail they say it is made of three parts. Rabbi J. Immanuel Schochet, Phd follows this process in the intorduction to Gutman G. Locks Spice of Gematria. He says "The first letter of the aleph-bet is aleph. Its Gematria is one. The aleph is written combining a Yod, a Vav and a Yod which equals 26. The Gematria of God’s name is 26 thereby revealing God is one". So to Rabbi Schochet the very three parts of Aleph reveal the oneness of God. This process of breaking aleph up into three parts I have seen repeated numerous times by many Rabbis. So the revelation of God’s unity in the New Covenant is completely consistent with what the Rabbi’s teach among themselves. Even if they deny it to truth seekers and Christians they must know the plain truth in their hearts.
Rav Shimon Bar Yochai agrees with the New Covenant
Now we will have a look at what the Zohar has to say about Yahwah. This is the explanation of a Jewish Rabbi Shimon Bar Jochai (Sohar Vol iii).
"Eliezer’s father said to him: Come and see the mystery of the word, Yahuwah: there are three steps, each existing by itself; nevertheless they are One, and so united that one cannot be separated from the other"
Does this not sound very much like the New Covenant revelation of Yahwah?
In the same vol of the Zohar page 288 the Rabbi continues:
"The Ancient Holy One is revealed with three Heads, which are united in one and that head is thrice exalted. The Ancient Holy One is described as being Three; it is because the other Lights emanating from Him are included in the Three"
So now we have a background to understand the other writings of Moses our Rabbi cites.
"Know therefore this day and consider it in your heart that Yahwah he is Elohim."
Isaiah on Isaiah.
"I am He, before me no El was created, neither shall there be after me." 43:10
"Thus says Yahwah, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, Yahwah of Hosts; I am the First and the Last, and beside me there is no Elohim." (Is 44:6).
"I am Yahwah and there is no one else"
Let us love him for who He is, let us lovingly meditate on the King of Israel, the Redeemer of Israel, Yahwah,Yahwah Tzvaoth and his unique unity.
So we can again consult the writings of the prophet Isaiah on the peshat level to see if he is consistent with the plurality in unity of Elohim as revealed to us through Moses. As it was said to one person we cannot even think to understand the Great and Awesome Elohim who created the universe. How can a finite man understand an infinite Elohim. It is impossible. As one writer has said. " in the wisdom of Elohim the world through its wisdom did not come to know Elohim".
So all the great thinking Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and others who set up many thinking systems of logic and philosophy, did not come to know Elohim. But Daniel in having the Spirit of Elohim was able to understand mysteries which all the wise men of Babylon could not come close to. So it is that we as men are dependent on the Spirit of Elohim to reveal Elohim to us. In our own thinking we stand little chance of comprehending the Awesome truth of Elohim’s unique unity. There is no unity like his unity and this is not surprising because he is beyond anything we have ever come across in the world, he is the thrice Holy one the thrice separated one according to the song of the burning ones (Seraphim).
Let us as we study the scriptures love Yahwah with all that we are.
So does Isaiah agree with Moses in showing the different aspects of Yahwah Elohim? I say this, that if any prophet came who spoke contrary to Moses and tried to draw the people after another god who is in fact no god, under the Moses administration , then they would need to be put to death.
"I shall make mention of the lovingkindnesses of Yahwah, the praises of Yahwah, according to all that Yahwah has granted us and according to the great goodness toward the House of Israel….. For He said Surely they are my people, Sons who will not deal falsely, So he became their Saviour (Moshia).
In all their affliction he was afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them; In his love and in his mercy, He redeemed them; And he lifted them and carried them all the days of old.
But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit."
So here we see that he is first Father because he called his people Sons. We see that he became Moshia(Saviour). This is also the role of the Messiah Yeshua. Finally it is Et Ruach Chodeshu, (His Holy Spirit) that they rebelled against. So here we have again clear support of the plurality in the unity of Elohim. Some commentators say that the Holy Spirit is a certain level of godliness in the path of the Just. They place him between Chassidut and the Revival of the dead. However the Tanach does not teach this, although the Holy Spirit has taken this role in the history of redemption. Here, in the text, it is his (Yahwah's) Holy Spirit. We know that Yahwah is Holy and therefore it is no surprise that the Spirit of Yahwah will also be Holy. Since it is His, it is one with him. When the Spirit of Yahwah comes on people they can begin to prophesy words of Elohim.
We move to Isaiah 12:
God is my Yeshua
I will give thanks to thee. O Yahwah…
Behold El is my Yeshua,
I will trust and not be afraid for Yah Yahwah is my strength and song and has become to me Yeshuah."
So here again we see that Yahwah at some point reveals himself as Yeshua which means salvation.
This verse just shows us that El is my Yeshua. This is a song individuals from Israel who receive Yeshua as their great El and Moshia, sing today. It is in the singular because individuals an Israelite remnant are repenting today. When the whole of Israel turns the whole song will be different.
Isaiah 48:15-16
I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him,
I have brought him and He will make his ways successful.
Come near to me, Listen to this:
From the first I have not spoken in secret,
From the time that it took place I was there.
And now Adonai Yahwah has sent me,
And his Spirit.
Again the threefold aspect of Elohim is shown.
Let us then love Yahwah as he is, not as we imagine him to be.
We will not repeat all the points about the plurality of the noun Elohim. This was established in our commentary on Moses. However we note that El is a singular noun referring to Yahwah. As contrasted with Elohim which is a plural noun.
The accusation against Christian messengers
Our Rabbis goes on to say, "we see just how deceitful and evil the Christian missionaries are. They prey on the ignorant and the uneducated, by feeding them lies and distortions about G-d and the Messiah"
Here we have a very strong accusation by the Rabbi against people he calls "Christian missionaries".
As Messiah has said " For every idle word a man speaks he will have to give an account for it on the day of judgement" So firstly we can say that the Rabbi will be judged for his accusations. He is upset because he says "Christianity and their fraudulent, missionaries believe that G-d is divided into three parts"
Well we have seen above from Moses and the way G-d revealed himself to him that the main common noun referring to G-d is plural. We find from Isaiah, three roles Father, Saviour, and Holy Spirit and Rabbi Shimon Bar Jochai that there is a revelation of "three steps" or "three heads" in Elohim or in Yahwah. So these teachings are firstly prophetic and secondly shown to originate with the Jewish Rabbis who wrote the Zohar. Since it is claimed that the Zohar contains some secrets of the Torah, our Jewish friend will put the teaching squarely on the head of Moses. So our Christians are really being honest to Moses the prophets and the faithful Rabbis when they teach their revelation of Elohim.
posted by Evangelist Edi Nachman Bsc. PGCE @ 6:49 PM
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