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Thomas Jefferson

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Today’s Feature

The Corruption of the Priesthood and Jesus’ Response

According to Josephus and the Talmud, the corruption of the priesthood occurred long before Jesus’ birth.  Herod the Great started the practice of selling the office of high priest to the family willing to pay the most money for it:

“For nearly a century a detestable abuse prevailed, which consisted in the arbitrary nomination and deposition of the high priest.  The high priesthood, which for fifteen centuries had been preserved in the same family, being hereditary according to the divine command (Josephus.  Book XX, Chapter X, 1), had at the time of Christ’s advent become an object of commercial speculation.  Herod commenced these arbitrary changes (Josephus.  Book XV, Chapter III, 1), and after Judea became one of the Roman conquests the election of the high priest took place almost every year at Jerusalem, the procurators appointing and deposing them in the same manner as the praetorians later on made and unmade emperors. (Josephus.  Book XVIII, Chapter II, 3; Book XX, Chapter IX, 4)  The Talmud speaks sorrowfully of this venality and the yearly changes of the high priest.  This sacred office was given to the one that offered the most money for it, and mothers were particularly anxious that their sons should be nominated to this dignity (Talmud Yoma )….M. Derembourg, a modern Jewish savant, has remarked: ‘A few priestly, aristocratic, powerful, and vain families, who cared for neither the dignity nor the interests of the altar, quarreled with each other respecting appointments, influence, and wealth.” (This passage is quoted from Moore, Phillip. The End of History—Messiah Conspiracy, Vol. I, Atlanta: Ramshead Press International Corporation, 1996, p. 71.)

The priests had turned Judaism into repetitious ceremonies that lacked the kind of reverence for and faith in Yahweh that He requires.  In their minds, their traditions were the heart and soul of their faith.  They could not have been more mistaken, and Jesus told them in no uncertain terms that they were dead wrong.  In Matthew chapter 23, He said,

“The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.  They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.  They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.

But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, the Messiah.  But the greatest among you shall be your servant.  Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widow’s houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Woe to you blind guides who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’  You fools and blind men!  Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’  You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering.  Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.  And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it.  And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.  You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.  You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourself, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?  Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the Altar.  Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How many times I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.  Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!  For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say ‘Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of Yahweh!’” (Matthew chapter 23)

As you read Matthew chapter 23, you can feel Yahweh’s anger and His pain.  Pay careful attention to the last paragraph in the chapter.  He begins by mourning about the terrible misdeeds of the priests over the centuries.  They killed some of the prophets Yahweh sent to them and stoned others.  Then He tells them how He longed to care for them the way a hen cares for her chicks, but they rejected His overtures.  Now, they were about to nail Him to a tree, and He knew it.  They were going to crucify the Creator and the Only God.  It had to be done for our salvation, but it was a terrible day nonetheless.

The last sentence in the last paragraph is mindboggling: “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!  For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say ‘Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of Yahweh!” (Matthew 23: 39)  Please don’t miss the significance of the Messiah’s point.  He is telling them that their nation will be destroyed, and then one day at an unspecified time in the future they will turn to Him and call Him by His Name.  Then they will see Him again.

That means a day is coming, probably sooner than a lot of people realize, when the Jewish people in Israel will be so desperate that they will turn to Yeshua and call Him by the Name “Yahweh.”  I know this because He is actually quoting Psalm 118: 26.  In Hebrew, it’s “Baruch ha ba B’shem Yahweh.”  Yahweh is waiting to answer that call, and you can rest assured that He will answer it.  When He does, you had better know if you are for Him or against Him, because that won’t be the day for deciding.

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SnyderTalk® Commentary

Exodus Chapter 8

1. Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your hand with your staff, over the rivers, the canals and the marshland, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.”‘
2. So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
3. But by their spells the magicians did the same, bringing frogs over the land of Egypt. But by their spells the magicians did the same, bringing frogs over the land of Egypt.
4. Pharaoh then summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Entreat Yahweh to take the frogs away from me and my subjects, and I promise to let the people go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’
5. Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘You are the one to gain by it: when would you like me to pray for you, your officials and your subjects, so as to rid you and your houses of the frogs so that they will be left only in the River?’
6. ‘Tomorrow,’ he said.  Moses said, ‘It shall be as you say, so that you will know that there is no one like Yahweh our God.
7. The frogs will leave you, your houses, your officials and your subjects and will be left only in the River.’
8. Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh’s presence, and Moses pleaded with Yahweh about the frogs which he had inflicted on Pharaoh.
9. Yahweh did as Moses asked, and in house and courtyard and field the frogs died.
10. They piled them up in heaps and the country stank.
11. But once Pharaoh saw that there had been a respite, he became obstinate and, as Yahweh had foretold, refused to listen to them.
12. Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, and it will turn into mosquitoes throughout the whole of Egypt.”‘
13. Aaron stretched out his hand, with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were mosquitoes on man and beast; all the dust of the earth turned into mosquitoes throughout the whole of Egypt.
14. By their spells the magicians tried to produce mosquitoes in the same way but failed, and there were mosquitoes on man and beast.
15. So the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.’ But Pharaoh was obstinate and, as Yahweh had foretold, refused to listen to them.
16. Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he makes his way to the water. Say to him, “Yahweh says this: Let my people go and worship me.
17. But if you will not let my people go, I shall send horseflies on you, on your officials, your subjects and your houses. The Egyptians’ houses will swarm with horseflies, and so will the very ground they stand on.
18. But I shall exempt the region of Goshen, where my people are living, that day; there will be no horseflies there, so that you will know that I am Yahweh, here in this country.
19. I shall make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.”‘
20. Yahweh did this, and great swarms of horseflies found their way into Pharaoh’s palace, into his officials’ houses and all over Egypt; the country was ruined by the horseflies.
21. Pharaoh then summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Go and sacrifice to your God, inside the country.’
22. ‘That would never do,’ Moses said, ‘since what we sacrifice to Yahweh our God is outrageous to the Egyptians. If the Egyptians see us offering sacrifices which outrage them, won’t they stone us?
23. We shall make a three-days’ journey into the desert to sacrifice to Yahweh our God, as he has ordered us.’
24. Pharaoh said, ‘I will let you go and sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the desert, provided you do not go very far. Pray for me.’
25. ‘The moment I leave you,’ Moses said, ‘I shall pray to Yahweh. Tomorrow morning the horseflies will leave Pharaoh, his officials and his subjects. But Pharaoh must stop trifling with us by not allowing the people to go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’
26. Moses then left Pharaoh’s presence and prayed to Yahweh,
27. and Yahweh did as Moses asked; the horseflies left Pharaoh, his officials and his subjects; not one remained.
28. But Pharaoh became obstinate this time too and did not let the people go.

The Second Plague—Frogs

Seven days later, Yahweh instructed Moses to deliver this message to Pharaoh:

“Let My people go, that they may serve Me.  But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs.” (Exodus 8: 1-2)

Pharaoh refused to obey Yahweh so Aaron stretched out his staff over the rivers, ponds and streams, and frogs came up out of the water and covered the whole land of Egypt.  Pharaoh asked his magicians to perform a similar feat, and they did.  But he summoned Moses immediately and promised him that he would let God’s people go if Moses would ask Yahweh to remove the frogs from the land.

Moses allowed Pharaoh to choose the specific time the frogs would be removed to show him that “there is no one like Yahweh our God.” (Exodus 8: 10)  Pharaoh said tomorrow, and the next day the frogs were gone.  Still, he refused to obey God.

The Third Plague—Gnats

Yahweh told Moses to instruct Aaron to stretch out his staff and strike the dust on the ground, and it would turn into gnats.  He did it, and gnats covered the whole land of Egypt.  Pharaoh’s magicians tried unsuccessfully to copy this plague, and they went to Pharaoh and said, “This is the finger of God.” (Exodus 8: 19)  Even though Pharaoh’s servants were beginning to understand that Yahweh is God, Pharaoh did not believe it, and he did not let God’s people go.

The Fourth Plague—Flies

The first three plagues showed Pharaoh that Yahweh is God, and they were inflicted on the entire land of Egypt.  However, Yahweh made an important distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians during the fourth plague.  He instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh that if he did not let His people go, swarms of insects would cover Egypt, but they would not swarm in Goshen where the Children of Israel lived.  God said, “But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of insects will be there, in order that you may know that I, Yahweh, am in the midst of the land.  I will put a division between My people and your people.  Tomorrow this sign shall occur.” (Exodus 8: 22-23)

Some Bible translations refer to the fourth plague as a swarm of lice or flies instead of insects, and the Tanach refers to it as a swarm of beasts.  I searched diligently to find out how these various interpretations were reached but was unable to find a satisfactory answer.  Thus, I used the New American Standard Bible as my source document.  In any event, in this plague Yahweh is demonstrating His ability to take simple dust and turn it into something powerful with which to inflict punishment on mankind—in this case Pharaoh and all of Egypt.  He was also demonstrating that He distinguishes between His people and everyone else.

Once again, Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go so insects swarmed throughout Egypt and devastated the land, but they did not swarm in Goshen.  Pharaoh softened his position a bit after he saw the damage caused by the insects.  He summoned Moses and told him that he could sacrifice to Yahweh, but he would have to do it in Egypt.

Moses responded by reminding Pharaoh that they intended to sacrifice cattle to Yahweh, and since the Egyptians believed cattle were gods, they might be attacked.  Pharaoh reluctantly agreed to let them go, and Moses warned Pharaoh not to renege on his promise again.  But it was no use.  Pharaoh changed his mind and refused to let God’s people go.

Notice once again, that Yahweh is making a point with each plague, and this is His message.  There is only One God, and His Name is Yahweh.  Pharaoh was slow to catch on.  In the end, it cost him his life.  That’s a message that all of us need to understand.

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News Items of Interest

• Muslims score a major victory
• Photo from Dachau
• The big lie: Muslims, Jerusalem, and archeology, Part 1
• Tolerance and the other American Muslim tragedy
• No climate for a change treaty
• Abbas tells Palestinians Israel doesn’t want peace
• Hamas rejects Mofaz call to talk as “Zionist vulgarity”
• Turkey PM: Israel war crimes worse than Sudan

Turkey’s PM is being disingenuous, and I’m being kind.  See below:

1. Facts on Sudan 1
2. Facts on Sudan 2
3. Facts on Sudan 3
4. Facts on Sudan 4

The only similarity between what’s happening in Sudan and what happened in the Gaza War is that the perpetrators in both situations are radical Islamist terrorists who are trying to destroy people who don’t buy into their view of the world.  The difference between what’s happening in Sudan and what happened in the Gaza War is that Israel’s IDF is not made up of unarmed women and children.

I have taught many Muslim students from Turkey.  Without exception, they are some of the finest people I have ever met.  I am proud of my association with them, and I visited with one of my students and her family in Turkey.  I will say this about Turkey’s PM.  He is not like they are.  He appears to be more like Bashar al-Assad.

To my readers in Turkey, please do not interpret my remarks to mean that I have anything against you or your country.  I do not.  My admiration for you remains high, and my love for your country is unswerving.  After all, the young Christian church grew up in your country.  For that I am grateful, but I can’t sit by idly while your PM falsely accuses Israel of senseless aggression against the civilian population of Gaza any more than I can fault your country for defending itself against the PKK.  The analogy is very appropriate.

The radical Islamists who control Hamas have as their primary mission the destruction of Israel.  It’s in their charter.  They initiate conflicts and then position women and children in the line of fire to receive the Israeli response.  I’ve run many articles on this issue in previous SnyderTalk posts so I won’t do it here, but you can be certain about this.  The people of Israel seek peace, and they use their weapons to defend themselves.  The people of Hamas want war, and they use their women and children to besmirch Israel’s reputation among global opinion leaders.  Please don’t be deceived by your PM’s dishonest remarks.

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His Name is Yahweh

There is a wealth of material available for free download on www.hisnameisyahweh.org including the book His Name is Yahweh.  His Name is Yahweh is also available at Amazon on Kindle for just $5.  If you haven’t read His Name is Yahweh, you should.  The importance of Yahweh’s Name is becoming more apparent with each passing day.

Available on Amazon Kindle and it can be downloaded at www.hisnameisyahweh.org