COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 114 - A REVIEW OF THOSE WHO WERE AT THE WELL AND UNDER THE TAMERISK TREE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

A few weeks ago we began studying what happened to Moses after he fled from Egypt.  

We spent last week’s lesson clearing up and discussing the details and facts of the day Moses killed the Egyptian Taskmaster.  We concluded that what some claimed to be a murder committed by Moses was simply an act of self-defense.  

Previously we covered the fact that Moses was no longer safe in Egypt and spoke of how he ran away to the desert land of Midian where he came to rest beside a well.  It was there that he met the seven daughters of a Midian priest who took him in and made him his son-in-law. 

I asked you then if the well seemed to be familiar.  We did study this particular well back when we were studying the book of Genesis.  I feel we need to go back and review the vivid details of that lesson again; before we move on with the rest of the story of Moses.  

To me the significance of the story of this particular well is extremely important to Christians living in the world today.  This one little well has so many untold lessons that they cannot even be counted.  We will hear more and more of it as we continue our studies, but for now; I wish to review what happened to Hagar and Ishmael at that well.  I want us to think about how God ties things together over and over again,  and how He lets simple things, like this old, old well, teach us of His faithfulness. 

Please bear with me in the repetition and the backtracking.  I think it will be well worth your while.  You will realize more from this story than the first time you heard it.  We will also repeat some of this particular story in more detail as we continue studying the life of Moses beyond this review.

Just close your eyes and visualize Moses, hot and tired from his journey.  He is walking up to the well, dipping cold water to cure his thirst and leaning back to rest under the tall and leafy shade of an old, old tamerisk tree.  Then let you mind continue going back even further; all the way back to the days of Abraham and Hagar.

Here is Lesson 57 of The Journey Through Genesis and the lesson called “The Bush and The Well:” 

Thursday, February 19, 2015

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 57 - THE BUSH AND THE WELL

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Most of the story of Hagar and Ishmael has been told; but there is a little bit more that we should cover here before we make a turn and leave them for a while.  There is so much to tell and time limits how much we will be able to discuss.  How I wish that were not the case.  This is a very important topic.  Today I want to look closer at the little details that are often overlooked in the typical discussions of the story.  God is in the small things as well as the larger things and in this story, the small things make a huge difference in the large things.  

Let's try very hard to remember every little thing about these two (Abraham and Hagar) because they are a big part of the thread in the whole tapestry that God is weaving as He forms and shapes the nation of Israel and eventually all the nations of the world as we know it today.

God has been writing this story for years and years, slowly changing the hearts, fully telling the truth, finding and loving the lost and the hated forever.  Not just yesterday!  He is Eternal.  All of these nations and peoples that are so loved of God came originally from Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.  It is important to walk a while in each of their shoes and to see what God taught each of them.  We need to know who they really are so that we can realize who we really are. 

We have already discussed that Hagar was set free by Abraham.  She and Ishmael went to live near a well in the desert.  

One would think from reading the scriptures that was the last time Abraham saw of Hagar, but is that a realistic assumption?  Many think that Abraham kept up with Hagar and Ishmael and provided for their welfare.  Even though Sarah and Hagar were separated and maintained separate homes with their own sons, it seems that Abraham loved and cared and provided for both sons.

If you think about this long enough, you come to realize that the well which was only a few bow-lengths away from the place where Hagar lay Ishmael to die was possibly located very close to where Abraham and Sarah were living in Gerar.  It would not have been too far for Abraham to travel, or to receive news of the needs of Hagar and Ishmael.  

   

If you think about it all even longer you might come to suspect that this very well was probably the same well that we later hear about when Abraham and Abimeleck made an agreement to live peacefully with each other in the land for three  years.  This was a sort of treaty between them that happened long after Abraham and Sarah had left Abimeleck’s palace where amazingly (even after Abraham had deceived Abimeleck,) King Abimeleck had promised them use of the land to graze their cattle and promised them that they would be free to live on the land as they wished without harm.  

Years had passed since Abimeleck made this promise and he had been good to his word.  Abraham and Sarah had been allowed to dwell in the land even though they were foreigners.  When it came time to seal the deal with a treaty, Abimeleck reminded Abraham that he had kept his end of the promise.  Now it was Abraham's turn to make promises.

Many were amused when this treaty was formed.  They marveled that Abimeleck would even think of making an agreement with Abraham after the way Abraham had lied to him and deceived him into thinking that Sarah was his sister.    Yet; Abraham had prayed for Abimeleck and his household and the Philistine King had seen the results of those prayers.  It must have made quite an impression.  There had been much healing. 

Abimeleck knew also from a dream that God was blessing Abraham and that Abraham was a prophet of God.  Perhaps Abimeleck was afraid God would bless Abraham so much that he would lose all of his kingdom to him.   Was it not rumored that Abraham thought his descendants would inherit this land eventually?   This three year treaty probably seemed the best way to go.  They could live together in peace for a period of time, then Abraham and Sarah could journey on to somewhere else.  The King would no longer be threatened with these people taking over his territory.  In Abimeleck's eyes, it was just a temporary arrangement and one day in the future he would like to end the temporary arrangement without too much of a fight and on agreeable terms.

Abraham’s perspective of this treaty would have been quite different from that of Abimeleck, having been told by God that his descendants would eventually be given the land.  Abraham might have seen this treaty as the beginning of many more to come.  He wanted to live peacefully in the land and he wanted to have a good relationship with the king that now ruled the land.  

So the two men made the treaty, each of them looking at it from their own perspective; Abraham thinking this was God's first step in His plan for his descendants to acquire the land, and Abimeleck thinking he was preparing them for the date when they would make their eventual departure.  Each man entered the treaty seeing their own possible advantages.

However, to make the deal sweeter, there was a well that Abraham had dug, and he had noticed Abimeleck’s men were constantly fighting with his men over the water rights for this well.  Abraham pointed this out to Abimeleck and mentioned that he had set aside seven female lambs as a gift to Abimeleck in exchange for the well.  Abimeleck, knowing that the deal would never be sealed without this, accepted Abraham's terms.  What harm would it be for Abraham to own the well if he eventually had to leave?  Abimeleck's people would just take it over at that time.  Wells could be reclaimed easily enough.

When this treaty was finished and sealed, this particular well was considered to be the legal property of Abraham.  It was the first thing that he had actually bought and paid for and owned exclusively in the new land.  It was the most important move that Abraham could have made!  In this dry land, water rights meant survival.  This was a very important well.  It was the often overlooked first step in God fulfilling the covenant that promised the land to Abraham and his descendants.
  

Knowing that God had finally given him a piece of the property that had been promised for years and years, Abraham built an altar at this well and gave thanks to God.  He was full of joy and elated to see the promises coming to pass!  He thanked God for the well, and for the beginning of the fulfilling of the rest of the promise.  

Isaac’s birth had fulfilled a large part of this promise and a small piece of the rest of it was now beginning to come about too.  Abraham was determined that Isaac’s children and their children would live in this land that had been promised by God to Abraham.  Owning this one little bit of the land where the well was had given Abraham much hope for the future.

Abraham realized at this late point in his life when God first began to fulfill the rest of the covenant, that God had a different perspective on time than he did.  Abraham realized for the first time ever that God was eternal and everlasting.  The importance of this truth overwhelmed Abraham.  It sunk into his very soul and he thought a lot about the fact that God goes on forever and ever, infinite, without end.

He had known that God was powerful and righteous, but this was the first time that Abraham had pondered the fact that the God he faithfully served was forever and ever.  Here at this well Abraham called God El-Olam which meant Eternal God.  Abraham pondered the fact that an eternal God had given him a promise and that promise would belong to all of his descendants.  They would know and call on this name of this very same Eternal God all through history.  

Abraham  finally realized that every thing he had done and would ever do would affect the eternal blessings of God toward his descendants.  That is why Abraham planted a Tamerisk tree beside the well.  

Tamerisk trees grow slowly.  You do not plant them for your own shade.  You plant them to shade the people in the generations to come.  Abraham praised God that his descendants would come and sit under the shade of this Tamerisk tree near the well of Abraham where they would draw water to satisfy their thirsts in the years to come.  

It was a huge moment of faith for Abraham.  

It was a gigantic leap in his understanding of how big God really is and how eternal his blessings and promises are.  Abraham praised God here and offered up his thanks.  With the planting of the tamerisk tree he had planted down roots.  

Abraham continued to live a godly life with Sarah and Isaac in Gerar.  There he once again opened his doors to strangers and he always told them about El-Olam - The Everlasting God.  The House of Abraham was once again spreading the word about the One True God of Heaven and Earth.  You might even say that Abraham and Sarah were the very first evangelical Christians, because of their faith!  They were preaching the gospel before the gospel message was fulfilled because they believed in an Eternal and Everlasting God.   It must have been a wonderful time for Abraham and Sarah and Isaac.  These must have been the most precious years of their lives.

Abraham was so happy with the way things were going that he decided to give a huge celebration on the day that Isaac was weaned.  We have already discussed this story too, and we noted the way that Sarah persuaded Abraham to turn Hagar and Ishmael away so that only Isaac would inherit from Abraham.  

Abraham was quite perplexed but discussed this with God first, which also shows us the change and the maturity of Abraham in this place.  He heard God say to listen to Sarah so Abraham decided to do what he personally did not want to do.  He gave Hagar and Ishmael some bread and a flask of water and told them they were free; and that they must leave.  

Perhaps Sarah saw this as getting rid of Hagar and Ishmael, but perhaps Abraham only saw this as separating the two women and their sons.  He only gave them enough bread and water to wonder a short time.  Perhaps he even told Hagar which direction to take.  No one really knows what was happening in Abraham's heart on that day, but what we do know is they stumbled on the provision of a well just in time, just as their bread and water ran out.  It was a well that had been very significant in Abraham's life; a well where an altar had been places and thanks given to an Eternal God.  Perhaps no one knew how holy the ground around the well was; but God knew and God was there.  

We have also discussed that Hagar wandered in the desert until the water and the bread were gone and then she laid Ishmael down beneath a bush and went off a few bow lengths away from him so she did not have to see him die.  She began to cry.  Ishmael also began to cry.  The angel of the LORD heard Ishmael's cry and came to Hagar and Hagar's eyes were opened and she saw the well.

If you think about it, the well that Hagar saw which was close to a bush where she laid Ishmael to die (about two bow-lengths away) was probably the same well that Abraham and Abemileck had formed the treaty over.  It more than likely was the well bought with the seven female lambs.  

This well had been the beginning of Abraham's miracle from God, the first rights to the promised land.  It was also Hagar’s miracle from God.  Her eyes were opened in that very spot and she saw how to bring her nearly dead son back to life.  This was the well in Beersheba near Hebron on the Sinai peninsula, not too terribly far from Gerar.  Some people have different theories, but this is what I have come to believe about the well: 
  

The bush that Ishmael lay under was most likely a young tamarisk tree that had been planted a few years ago by his Father, Abraham.   When these trees are young they look more like bushes.   Hagar, being originally from the desert lands of Egypt would probably have known the special qualities of the tamarisk trees.  

These trees grow in soil with high concentrations of salt.  They have small leaves and small branches.  During the heat of the day these trees secrete salt.  The salt dries.  During the night the salt absorbs water from the air.  In the morning the water evaporates creating the effect of a natural air conditioner and the air beneath this tree is always cooler during the daylight.  God was still looking out for Ishmael.  He gave him air conditioning in the desert heat!

Perhaps Hagar, even though she was afraid her son might die, did not walk away for only that reason.  Perhaps she wanted him to have all the benefits of the air underneath this tree.  Perhaps her walking away was a noble sacrifice, giving him the cool air in the midst of the desert heat, and yet she would be close enough to hear him if needed.  

It is also said that the leaves of this tree, when they have been shed beneath the branches, make a soft warm bed in the desert during the night.  They tend to absorb the heat from the sand at night and keep one warm.  As hot as it is in the daytime, the desert is also very cold at night.  You can die from cold just as easily as you can die from heat.  Hagar was smart enough to use all of her survival skills to protect her son and to keep him alive.  Beneath the tamarisk tree was the very best place for Ishmael to be. God was still guiding Hagar, even as she was lost in the desert.  

This is a personal thought that I want to give future research to, but it is my own personal theory that Hagar and Ishmael, lost in the desert, were the first people to encounter the burning bush; even before Moses.  I believe it existed in the area of that tamerisk tree; or even that it WAS that tamerisk tree.  

If you study the areas where there were burning bush experiences, you will find that this well dug by Abraham and the bush were close in proximity to each other.  Moses later met Jethro's daughters as they were drawing water from a well.  There were seven daughters who drew, and seven female lambs were paid by Abraham to obtain this well for his descendants.   Moses saw the bush not too far from this well.
  

Getting back to our original story, we are told that God heard Ishmael’s cry and then spoke to Hagar.  Could it be that God heard Ishmael’s cry because Ishmael was laid down in a very holy place?  We are told in the scriptures that the place of the burning bush was holy.  

Let’s read how Moses described the burning bush in Exodus 3:1-5:

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God.  There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.  Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.  So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.”  When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses!  Moses!”  And Moses said, “Here I am.”   “Do not come any closer,” God said.  “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

It is quite possible that Ishmael was laid down right on the same holy ground and God heard his cry and his prayer for himself and his mother.  Then God called out from the bush to Hagar, much in the same way that He called out to Moses.  God called out to her by specifically naming her name.  God knew Hagar’s name and He told her not to fear, that he had heard the cries of the boy in the bush.  

Wow!  Does that not give you chills up and down your spine?  God KNEW Hagar by name and He told her not to fear.  I can just feel Hagar's countenance changing from very humble to confident and sure.  I can see the hope in her eyes increasing every second.   Just as God remembered Sarah in her time of being an outcast; He also remembered Hagar.   He had heard her son crying under the BUSH, probably the same bush where God many years later called out to Moses.  

The cry of Ishamael in God's ear probably sounded a lot like another little baby's cry from the basket in the river made from the bushes called bulrushes.  Long before God heard the cry of Moses, He heard the cry of Ishamael.   Long after God heard the cry of Ishamael and Moses, He heard the cry of Jesus from a manger in Bethlehem.  God heard each baby cry out, and this baby named Ishmael was crying out, probably near the same well where Abraham had worshiped God and thanked Him for being eternal and keeping all of his promises.  

This incident in the life of Hagar and Ishmael probably happened in the same place where from generation to generation future we will hear of miracle after miracle for Abraham’s descendants.  The stories are as uncountable as the stars from Heaven.

So;be sure to listen up whenever you hear mention of the bush or the tamarisk tree or the well.  It will be meaningful, and it usually involves God calling someone out; using their personal name and giving them personal instructions.  Ask Moses.  Ask Jacob.  Ask David.  Ask Mary.  Ask Abraham.  Ask Ishmael.  Ask Isaac.  Ask 21 Egyptian men who were recently beheaded for their belief in the cross from the modern times where we now live. 

These cast-out children of Abraham were all in some ways hidden under a bush on holy ground.  At one time they were all lost and afraid and they all cried out to God for help.  God had told them all not to be afraid.  Abraham, their leader, had made a covenant with God right in this very place.  Here in this same place, Hagar looks up and sees the well that will keep them from ever thirsting again.

Now the roots of the tamarisk tree have grown deeper and deeper and generations and generations have passed since the days of Abraham, but many, many of his descendants have remained faithful and loyal to God; no matter where they are, no matter their circumstances in life.  It is the story of the tamerisk tree being told over and over again.  It has been played out right before our eyes in present times too.  The tamerisk tree speaks of an Eternal God who always keeps His promises.  The tree is still alive and well and it is growing today.  God is still Eternal and Everlasting!

The witness of the children of Abraham of The Eternal God has grown slow and strong, putting down roots like the tamerisk tree, slow and steady, taking a long, long time, hardly noticed at first, overshadowed by the larger trees of the land who are not so flexible and not so strong.  

The tamarisk trees have now spread across the lands and the nations. People of God have found the truth of The God of Abraham and followed His Son, Jesus Christ.  This means so much to them that they would die before denying the message of the cross of Jesus Christ.  They do not seek this death for their own glory, it finds them and allows them to be a true witness; much unlike those men who falsely think that what they do that breaks every commandment of God will bring them honor and glory.   True People of God never seek their own honor.  They only give glory to God.  This is a test that is always accurate.   

These false self-proclaimed prophets of terrorism who also follow a false prophet seek their own glory and their own benefit.  Those who have been willing to die selflessly rather than deny the name and cause of The One True God are the true martyrs.  They are the true ones who will be rewarded by God.   They are with the souls of the martyrs under the altar!

 Even today, many more have lost their lives being a witness for this truth that they believe enough to die for.  They have kept an unwavering faith in this God of Abraham.  They know without a doubt that they have found the most valuable thing ever.   They have been burned, beheaded, tortured and killed, but their witness, like a slow growing tamerisk tree now spreads its branches and covers a land who seeks for truth.  The trees will talk and their voices will be heard throughout eternity.  They died for an Eternal God.

If no one else speaks for them; even the very rocks will cry out to tell their witness story; that the God of Abraham is The One True God.  Their blood cries out to God even now, just like the blood of the righteous Abel.  God will hear.  He will honor them.  The God of Abraham looks after his people who are tortured, exiled, lost and afraid.   He saw that other Egyptian named Hagar and He came to her rescue.   The same God who loved Hagar and knew her by name, reaches out to those like her living in the midst of every land today.  

The story from the tamerisk tree and the story spoken from the blood of the martyrs that call out to God is eternal because it is a story of The One Eternal God - El-Olam - The God of Abraham, and He never changes.  

So remember El-Olam, the One Eternal God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when you hear of a well, or a tree, or a bush.  Listen for the cry of God that calls out to individuals from every land from a very holy place.  He hears.  He sees.  He is eternal.  He wrote the story, and He will finish the story.  He knows the beginning from the end.  Follow Him.  He knows your name!  Every name of every true martyr is recorded in His book, The Book of Life.  The Lamb guards the book.  He is  The Lamb that bought the well of everlasting water from which no man drinking will ever thirst again.  The price has been paid.  The Father who paid the price through His son is constantly calling out names.

There is only one correct answer when you hear Him calling:  "Henini"  "Here I Am."  That was the answer given by Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Moses, Isaac, David and all of the disciples of Jesus Christ in the new testament.  That was the answer of all those who have been recently martyred.  "Here I am."    

Will that be your answer when He calls your name?  

We are living in times when you must decide.  You must know your answer.  God will show you.  He showed Abraham.  He showed Hagar.  He showed those who recently followed Him forsaking all else.  He always keeps His promises.

SEASONS - COUNTING THE OMER IN THE 50 DAYS AFTER FIRST FRUITS UNTIL PENTECOST

 

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

We have been talking a lot about The Holy Days of God.  I wish to spend the next few days pondering the Hebraic celebration of Early First Fruits, the day that many begin counting the 50 days of the omer while waiting on Pentecost.  This is how the ancients knew the day. They did not look at a calendar or ask Google as we do today; they counted the omer. 

 Have you ever considered this practice or pondered the wisdom of these days?  The idea of counting each day represents spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah.  It is how the people traditionally prepared their hearts for God to reveal things to them.  

The most important thing to remember about Passover is that Early First Fruits represented the resurrection of Christ.   Early First Fruits is celebrated on the second day of The Seven Days of Unleavened Bread; three days after the Passover Seder.  It is one of the seven days of Unleavened Bread during the Passover season.  The three days (Passover plus the first two days of Unleavened Bread) represent the time of Christ in the grave.  On Early First Fruits He is risen!   The Passover Seder tells in symbols of how Jesus died, was buried and rose on the third day.  Hence, it is very important that a family observe the Passover to understand all the details of the history of the people that God used to bring us Messiah and to understand how everything that God did with them led to the sacrifice of the Messiah in our place. 

 

There is more to the progression of this victory.  The proof was in the Resurrection of Christ.  This is what Early First Fruits symbolizes; the Resurrection.  The barley loaf that is waived on Early First Fruits is symbolic of Jesus and how He was resurrected a victorious Savior of the the World.  He was the "first" of a full harvest for The Kingdom of God.  This is what one must understand in order to understand the further progression, the giving of the Holy Spirit of God to His people on Pentecost.

The first miracle of Pentecost was with Moses when God gave the Torah.  The Holy Spirit is the personification of the Torah living in God's people.  God told the people to count from Passover to Pentecost from the offering of the early first fruits sheaf of barley grain.  They counted 50 days and that brought them to the day that the wheat harvest was ready to be offered.  The wheat harvest was the larger crop, the most valuable crop of the year.  If the barley crop was good and the wave sheaf was offered first at early first fruits, the latter first fruits offering of the wheat crop would be abundant!  The symbolism is that Jesus was our early first fruit offering, and we are the latter first fruit offering.  These offerings are brought into the storehouse of God and The Kingdom of God thrives!  

You start counting the 50 days on the day of the early first fruits offering.  That is how you know which day is going to be Pentecost.  

This is an ancient custom and a very old tradition of Israel.   Knowing this, I want to simply contemplate the reasons and the original purpose for the custom of "counting the Omer."

The first thought that comes to mind is that this practice, done properly, (without the intention of using it for self gain or magic) helps us to grow as individuals.   The fifty days are days that we should be meditating on our purpose and our growth before God.  

It has been noted by some that the formula for staying young is to always continue growing.  Losing that capacity to continue growing at any age is tragic.  Yet, when you stop to think about it, any time we are not growing and changing, we are not living; we are just existing.  The proper counting of the omer is actually about moving to a spiritual place that is higher than "just existing." It is looking forward to what God is going to do next with us.  It is NOT the practice of elevating ourselves, but it IS the process of letting God work inside of us to bring us to a better plane of existence in our lives in His Kingdom.

 

I love this often misquoted passage of scripture found in Genesis 24:1:

"Abraham was old; he came with his days" 

"He came with his days" informs us that Abraham used each of his days to the fullest extent.  At the end of his life, he came to old age "with all his days" in hand.  No day was without its own unique growth.   In other words, Abraham had something to show for all his days of living.  He had produced spiritual fruit from the labor of his soul on this earth.  This is what we hope to achieve in the counting of the omer; to number our days for the goodness of God's Kingdom in our lives.

This all sounds great, but it isn't always easy.  Some people do not want to move any further spiritually than reaching the place of knowing there is a Messiah, believing in Him and receiving and enjoying the gift of salvation.  Salvation is, after all, the greatest gift ever given and by all means the most important gift.   

It surprises many to learn that fact that there are even more gifts!  Why is this such a surprise and so hard to understand?  When you married your husband, did your life end with the marriage on your wedding day, or was that day only the beginning?  There is so much more!  God is such a giver!  Going further with God is a choice we all have to make for ourselves.  Do we want to stay warm and cozy with all we have already attained through the granting of the greatest gift, or do we want to keep moving on into even more adventures with God?  Salvation is an awesome, most important gift, and it is free for the taking, but if you value it, you will more than likely also value another gift called sanctification.  Sanctification can only come after Salvation.

Unlike salvation, sanctification is not free.  Salvation required no effort on our part. Sanctification does.  Jesus gives us both gifts; salvation and sanctification.  It is only Him working inside of us that make either gift possible.   His blood is ALL that makes us holy before God.  Make no mistake that it is His blood that saves us and only His blood that makes us holy before God.  None of our own works will ever attain our salvation or sanctification.  Our own efforts are like filthy rags, but that doesn't mean that we should not make an effort.  

God desires for us to want to be holy like Him.  Sanctification will cost you your attitude!  You will have to surrender your will and succumb to the will and nature of God.  God wants us to turn from the old man and begin to be the new man.   This process; the time of being made new after salvation is called sanctification.   Once we are covered with the blood of Jesus, this process becomes possible.  It is impossible without the blood of Jesus.  Please hear me out on this; once we have been saved, it is sanctification that makes new life begin in us.  Growing closer to God through sanctification increases the working of God's Holy Spirit that resides inside our soul.  Sanctification is how God transforms us from the old person we were to the new person He actually created us to be.  It is again, like a harvesting.  A seed must die to itself, be buried in the ground and endure until the sun and water and nutrients that make it grow do their work.  We are counting the omer during this time of lying dormant, the time that is unseen, the time that the little seed becomes a small plant and begins to push itself to the surface and come into the world a new plant.       

Some of us are afraid of walking down this path of sanctification and new growth.  We are often afraid of failure, but we must continuously keep in mind that we are covered by the blood of Jesus.  We must remember the fact that His blood is so righteous that it cannot fail.  So many people are afraid of failing in life that they refuse to ever start to live.  How ironic!  This is so sad.  It causes people to settle for dust when they could obtain pure gold.  

Setting too lofty and unattainable goals is often the biggest reason people fail. When we set our goals too high and too soon, we inevitably fall short and get discouraged. Things are easier and less frustrating if you take them one day at a time. This is the method used in “counting the omer.”  This is how God teaches us to be holy; one day at a time, one life experience at a time.  Each lesson builds as we go through the 50 days meditating on God's nature and determining to imitate Him as best we can.

We are told in the scriptures to count the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost) beginning on the day of Early First Fruits and ending on The Day of Pentecost.  

Like most events in life we tend to be more aware of the beginning and the end, but it is the part in the middle that is required to bring about true and lasting transformation. Therefore the counting of the days from Passover to Pentecost is very much an effort in which THE PROCESS is in and of itself of great value. 

Counting the omer is how we learn to "number" our days. The word for "number" in Hebrew is “mispar.” Its root is closely related to our English word for "story" ― “sipur.” Can you see the relationship between the two?

A collection of events (or days) becomes a story ― as opposed to a random anthology of events. Each day builds on the day before as we go along creating God's story for each of us.  You will have a beginning in which the characters are introduced, a middle in which conflict takes place, and an end in which there is resolution. There is a full story eventually, but it happens, unfolds and builds in increments of time.

Unfortunately today our lives flow by so quickly that we frequently lose awareness of the awesome power of our own stories. The metamorphosis of today into tomorrow is subtle enough for us to lose consciousness of time, how it began, what lay in the middle and how it all ends.  The commandment to count each day after we have experienced a "passing over" teaches us mindfulness.  It re-opens our hearts to hearing stories.  The stories of God help us to count out the days of our lives, showing us how to live in each moment.   From Passover to Pentecost there are two stories which are intertwined.  One is the story of a transformation of a people who at Passover become physically free into a people who at Shavuot become spiritually free.

The Passover story tells us of the day the People of God left Egypt.  This was a day in which they rejected the Egyptian definition of what their lives would hold.  They learned through the power of God they were free to be exactly who they truly were created to be.

But they did not yet know their own stories.  

It was only when they received the Torah that they found the channels that could give their souls expression.  Always with the onslaught of total freedom comes a process of learning.  It is unexpected, but it always shows up.  It is through the learning process that the people of God learned the mechanics of meeting those real challenges they faced in the wilderness, challenges that were genuine and enduring.  We each face our own wilderness circumstances and we each have our own challenges in this life.  Through this process of living out time day-to-day the stories of the people of God in the wilderness began to evolve.  Without this process of time and learning they would have simply remained slaves forever.  There would have been no stories to tell.  Salvation brings us life and freedom.  Sanctification gives our life stories.  

By living through the time of transition (in the wilderness) The Israelites evolved into a people that would be used by God.  

                          

All evolution eventually involves change.  God gave the people the ritual of the early first fruits sacrifice to follow so they would recognize this.   Even this ritual defining the time of year for them reflected change.   The sacrifice that was offered on Passover was made out of barley.   In ancient times, barley was used as fodder for animals.  The sacrifice that was offered on Pentecost was made of wheat.  Wheat is often used as an allegory for the human capacity of intelligence.  While an animal can eat a fruit or a leaf (the early sacrifice), it requires human intelligence and creativity to make bread (the later sacrifice.)  This pictures the growing process from the sacrifice of early first fruits to the sacrifice of latter first fruits.

Here in this process of time from the Passover and leaving Egypt until arriving in the promised land and eventually experiencing Pentecost, we begin to see the amazing transformation of God's people from a people who are defined by the strife and yearnings of the sort of freedom shared by animals; to the freedom of becoming truly evolved human beings.  The time between Passover and Pentecost and the counting of the omer is all about transformation and progression to a higher form of life.  God desires that we have this gift!  

Only God can bring about our transformation!

Left to ourselves we would remain depraved animals.  God has a way of transforming us if we let him.  Upon leaving Egypt, those who were transformed had to be obedient in putting the blood of the lamb over their door posts.  This was the first step to total freedom yet they hardly noticed what they were doing; they were simply acting in faith and obedience.   Sometimes the transformation from slavery to freedom is gradual and unnoticed as time marches on and on, but it happens when we are obedient enough to trust God and let it happen.    

What makes us truly human? Some think it is the bond that we share with God that makes us human beings.  These bonds are called "sefirot," a name which also has the same root word as "number" and "story." This common root conveys the fact that our beginnings, middles and ends are ultimately measured and finite, but nonetheless our time is touched by the infinite spark of godliness within us.  The earliest mention of this concept is presented in the Kabbalistic work called Sefer Yetzirah, literally; the "Book of Formation."  This book has been attributed to Abraham by the sages of old.                  

 Do you know or understand that some Kabbalistic work evolved from Abraham?  It was a long time before I discovered this fact.  The very word Kabbala sounded very spooky and strange to me.  I avoided it.  Most of the time it is still strange and spooky!  This is one of those times to discern what is scriptural from what has been added to scripture.  Be careful where you go, especially with mystic Kabbalistic teachings.  Because of this, it took me some time to come around to the truth of counting the omer.  

                                                                                                                                 

 I thought about the fact that God attributed righteousness to Abraham.  Maybe he (Abraham)  knew something that I had not yet thought of and I began to study the parts of the puzzle in Kabbalistic thinking that were attributed to Abraham only.  Hmmmm.....  Be careful though not to be mislead.  Do not to mix the interest in biblical Hebrew roots with the wrong kind of Kabbala that practices magic and sorcery.  Magic and sorcery are an abomination to God!  Abraham did not participate in such things.

Over the years what Abraham knew has been perverted by greedy and ungodly men using and twisting the knowledge for their own selfish reasons.    Abraham would not have been mixed up with or participated in any type of sorcery, magic or idol worship.   He was strongly opposed to the occult and idol worship; which is where all of the wrong types of Kabbala perversions lead.  That is why I probably will not even call what I am referring to here Kabbala; because it is not a part of such things, but biblical in nature and follows the scriptures.   

I am simply referring to the study of the nature of God and how it works in our lives when we recognize and count the days between Passover and Pentecost.   God was the One who commanded that we do this.  There are those who take this practice to an extreme who do not even believe in God.  That is not at all what I am talking about. 

                                                                                                                             

My only reason for considering the practice of counting the omer at all is because of God's commandment to Abraham, Moses and others in the bible.  The scriptures clearly spell out that we should count the days up to 50 days, beginning with Passover on the Day of Early First Fruits in order to know when Pentecost will arrive.

 There are over a thousand commentaries on Sefer Yetzirah.  It remains one of the most fascinating Jewish works on the nature of God.  The thing I love about it is that it helps me to know more of The Father.   In the 1500s, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, a mystic from Egypt, settled in Safed.   He was known widely by the acrostic of his name as the Ari (literally "the Lion").   He taught the most enigmatic sections of Kabbalah to a select group of disciples.   Subsequently, the mystic teachings of Judaism became far more accessible than they had ever been in the past.   Those who knew the commandment to "count the days" could now begin to understand "why" they were counting the days.  Understanding is the birth of wisdom.  Always remember to chew up the meat and spit out the bones, or in other words weigh the wisdom written down by men against the scriptures as you go along in order to stay pure to God's will.  

The most central theme of this Rabbi's teachings is the significance of gaining an awareness of the bond that we share with God.  He calls this the "sefirot" of our spiritual souls.

It has been determined that there are seven aspects of godliness that can be displayed by human beings:

1) Chesed - which means loving kindness

2) Gevurah - which means justice and discipline

3) Tiferet - which means harmony and compassion

4) Netzach - which means endurance

5) Hod - which means gratitude and humility

6) Yesod - which means foundation and bonding

 7) Malchut - which means kingship, leadership and sovereignty.

These attributes of God are taught in the scriptures.  They are the things that one should meditate on in the days of counting the omer. 

I find it wonderful to see and know that the commandment which summed up all commandments - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself" is the first commandment mentioned and taught in the counting of the omer.  All other things build upon this one commandment.  This commandment describes the state called "chesed."  It seems if we don't get this "love" part of life - we miss out on everything else altogether.  It is the first aspect of godliness that is taught as we begin to count the days.  It is our first thought toward developing holiness in our day to day lives. 

Another favorite of mine is  aspect number five which represents gratitude and humility - as the past ten years of life for me have been full of the recognition that gratitude and humility are two of the truest forms of worship. 

It is also noted in these teachings leading through the counting of the days till Pentecost that at the root of all forms of enslavement (thinking of the Israelites in Egypt as well as our own enslavement to sin), is a distortion of these attributes of God's nature.  If we are not careful with our humanness, we will distort these things of God and defeat the learning.  We must beware and stay pure to the original meanings.

Each of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot is dedicated to examining and refining one of these seven aspects of godliness and different combinations of each of them together.

There is something in our nature that can reach higher and learn more and be transformed for each day that we are faithful to counting the omer.  It is not at all about the salvation we have already been freely given; but it is about the sanctification process, a way of letting God sift and shape and transform our natures into what He originally created us to be now that we ARE saved.  It is about achieving our fullest destiny before God

The counting happens in its set time every year between Early First Fruits and The Day of Pentecost.   Each season is compounded upon another until, hopefully, like Abraham; we grow old and we come before God with our own days.   Let us learn to make each one count for God's Kingdom.

As we dwell on these qualities of a godly person during the seven weeks between Passover and Pentecost our own stories and purposes begin to unfold a little further each day.  If we let God work in this time He will enlighten us with more of the stories of our own destiny and purpose He created.   It is through knowing the bond that we share with God, through The indwelling of The Holy Spirit and the blood of The Lamb from Our Savior Jesus Christ, that we are transformed and begin to grow spiritually.

So, dear friends, I pray that God will lead and teach each of us as we go through this season of numbering our days after we reach the time of Early First Fruit in the season of Passover.     

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 113 - IN DEFENSE OF SELF-DEFENSE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

In the last blog we discussed the theory that Moses committed murder when he defended his fellow Hebrew and killed the Egyptian that was abusing him.  When you kill someone in self-defense, either for yourself or some other helpless victim, is it still considered to be murder?

This may seem to be getting “off track” with our original study, but I did promise that we would stop and revisit this passage and look at it again.  So many questions arise about Moses and his character.  Was this righteous anger? 

I was noticing how Moses hid the body of the Egyptian in the sand and was thinking of the passage in Genesis where Cain hid Abel’s body in the dirt of the earth and his blood cried out to God.   I hear nothing in this passage about the Egyptian’s body crying out to God.  Did God see the killing of this Egyptian different from the way he saw the killing of Abel? 

The obvious answer is that Abel was an innocent victim who was murdered in cold blood.  The blood of life calls out when the innocent are murdered.  The Egyptian was obviously guilty of horrendous sin against a Hebrew; there was nothing innocent about the Egyptian who had actually probably intended murder himself.  He was not a victim at all.  His decision to act the way he did brought him to his end.  We live and die by the choices we make.
   

How would God have been feeling about what Moses did?  Obviously, only God could tell us, and He doesn’t!  Usually when God doesn’t give us direct answers it is because He wants us to seek out the answers.  We can attempt to do that here.  You may come up with more answers than I do.  I would love to hear about them.

Other questions also arise from this scene that seems to demand answers.   If what Moses did was right, then why did he look to the right and the left to see if there were witnesses before committing the act?  What gives here?

When the ancient rabbis could not answer such questions they chose the wisest among them and asked him to study Torah, history and culture and to write down his theory of what may have happened.  These thoughts went into the Midrash.  

The key words to remember about the Midrash comments are those words “may have happened.”  There is no proof of what we read in the Midrash; it is simply full of wise opinions and the suggestions of wise old men, and the Midrash is not known as the exact inspired words of God; but it is the exact inspired words of wise godly men.   There is a huge difference between the two!  

The Midrash is said to “fill in the blanks” of the Torah.  That doesn’t necessarily mean it makes ALL of our interpretations of all of those blanks accurate.  One must read with discernment and prayerfully make their own decision about accuracy.  The Midrash is simply designed to make you think beyond your normal capacity for thinking on a subject.  Some of the stories are VERY accurate and yet, some are only the imaginations and theories of wise old men.  Some of these wise old men’s stories can be proved out (many actually) but some of them are more like fables and legends. 

The Midrash fills in a few blanks by suggesting that the man who was being harmed by the Egyptian had come to Moses seeking help and defense because the Egyptian had been coming to his house and rapeing his wife right in front of him.   He needed someone with strong authority to handle the situation since he was a slave; and he was desperately coming to Moses for help knowing that Moses was actually born a Hebrew.   This seems to be one rabbi’s version of the rest of the story.   So should we trust what the Midrash tells us?  The actual Torah scriptures leave us and the problem at hand in a very vague place, with little proof to the reader.  When this happens we simply have to keep looking at the facts that we know are sure.

The inspired scriptures state that an Egyptian was harming a Hebrew slave, and that is about all we really have to go on in the passage. 

In his book called "The Purpose Driven Life" Rick Warren called Moses a murderer.  So why would Rick Warren be qualified to give the correct answer anymore than the rabbi who wrote the story in the Midrash?  Let’s face it; he isn’t qualified.  He sure stirred up a lot of animosity against Moses though! 

Christian interpretations, just like Jewish commentators often make mistakes in interpreting passages of the scriptures.  There are a lot of unexplored questions here regarding what was legal and moral in the days of Moses living in Egypt. 

If you look at this scene from the viewpoint of our modern day laws you will find that an individual has the right to use force, including deadly force if reasonable, in self defense.  We know that Moses was actually acting in the self-defense of another, but our laws for self-defense today seem to be stating if a person is in a place he has a right to be in, is not engaged in criminal activity,  and has a reasonable belief that he is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, he can defend himself.   The defender must not be the one who initiated the aggression, but he has the right to defend himself once the other person does the agressing.

None of the above explanation of modern day law would apply to this situation with Moses though, because Moses was not the actual person being attacked.  The victim was either the Hebrew slave, or a member of his family.  If you believe the logic of the Midrash it was both; if you are going strictly on the basic Torah scripture;  it was only the Hebrew slave.  For the sake of accuracy, we will only look at the inspired scriptures.   

In our modern laws when it comes to a person coming to the aid of another person in danger, the third party person has the right to use force, including deadly force if reasonable, if the person to whom they are providing aid has the legal right to use force in self-defense.  This means that in a court of law today, most likely Moses would NOT be declared a murderer.  (I pause to proclaim that I am not an attorney, but from what I’ve read of the law, this would be true.)

Our times however are drastically different from the times of Moses.  Our laws bear no resemblance to the laws of the land of Egypt during the reign of the Pharaohs. 

Think back to all the reasons Moses happened to be in the palace in the first place.  It was because the highest ruler in the country had ordered the murder of innocent children in the course of an otherwise regular day!  In Egypt at that time,  whatever the Pharaoh proclaimed immediately became the law of the land.  

It would seem that there were no set laws against murder in Egypt, because the Pharaoh himself  had ordered murders right and left all day long every day, whenever he felt the whim.  It goes even beyond that though.  If you were a slave, you had no rights.  Your life really did not matter to the Egyptians.  The life of a Hebrew was considered cheap and unnecessary.  There was a cast system that judged people according to their race and nationality.  Pharaoh wanted the Egyptians gone from the land of Egypt.   It had been his plan all along to kill them off through cruel harsh slavery; but the Israelites had been too hearty a people.  They were stronger than anyone had ever imagined.  For some reason they stayed healthy under all kinds of horrific circumstances.  We know that God was looking out for them and providing for them in their dire circumstances.  He might have been hiding behind the lattice work, but He was still there with them.

Immediately following the day Moses defended the Hebrew from the Egyptian at the cost of being proclaimed a murderer, there was another confrontation; this time between two Hebrews.   Again, Moses interceded and restrained one man from hurting or killing the other, only this time, Moses did not have to kill in order to achieve his goal.  

It is obvious that Moses was convinced that self-defense was a good thing.  He practiced this belief for two days in a row.  He did not kill for the sake of killing, but only when there was no other answer in the course of self-defense.  Moses believed in justice.  Not just justice for his own kind, but justice for ALL of mankind.  Justice allows self-defense and does not label it murder. 

Someone else who walked the earth long after Moses also believed in justice for all mankind.  In Luke 4:18 it was Jesus Christ who proclaimed:  "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free."

Everything has a reason and every action has a purpose.  Moses was laying the ground work for the greatest deliverance of all times.  Moses would lay the foundation and Jesus Christ would make that building of living stones come alive!

The God who does not approve of murder strongly does approve of deliverance.   So it was that Moses, the first living example of a good citizen, carried out justice twice in two days.  The justice that Moses used did not answer to Pharaoh; it answered to God. 

If the laws of the land had been just, Moses would not have been so troubled, but they were not just.  The laws of Egypt were based on pagan ways and principles totally opposed to God's ways.  In spite of growing up in the palace, Moses had been taught God’s ways and principles by his original Mother and Father.  He obviously had stayed in touch with his Hebrew family, since we are told at the beginning of the chapter that he went out to see how his “brethren” were getting along. 

So…. Was Moses justified in using deadly force against the Egyptian on the first day? 

Some people seem bothered by the fact that Moses looked both ways before killing the man.  They seem to think this act implied guilt, but does it?  

We have already mentioned that the laws of the land were unjust. Moses could have been looking to see if any other Egyptian might possibly come to the aid of the Hebrew.  Perhaps he assumed or hoped that SOME of the other taskmasters might be merciful and fair?  This act alone would not be proof of guilt. 

Also the fact that Moses hid the body would make you think these were the actions of someone who had done wrong, otherwise, why hide anything?  I have to admit that was the part that bothered me!  I immediately thought of the guilt of Cain.  Moses, however; wasn’t like Cain.  He was defending an innocent person who needed help.  Moses was God's answer for that person on that day.  Cain plotted and planned the murder of his innocent brother out of jealousy.  Moses’ motives and Cain’s motives were diametrically opposed to each other.  They were distintly different.  One motive is pure and kind, one motive is sinful and hateful. 

Do either of the above two actions many give as proof really matter though?  Neither are able to prove whether the actions were right or wrong.  They DO speak loudly of the times and the corrupt laws that Moses was living under in Egypt.  

In that place and in those times one did not necessarily have to worry about whether what one did was right or wrong; only that it would be pleasing to Pharaoh.  Everything HAD to be politically correct.   Moses knew the answer to that question in his case.  Pharaoh wanted the Israelites dead.  He would not be happy with what Moses had done. It was probably very hard to find taskmasters so willing to kill millions without reason.  Moses had committed the ultimate politically incorrect act of his times; he had defied Pharaoh’s wishes and thwarted part of Pharaoh’s carefully plotted schemes.
 

Moses was totally correct in his thinking!  As soon as he found out what had happened; Pharaoh ordered the death of Moses. 

So what does an unjustly accused man living in a land full of unjust laws do?  He doesn’t hang around to see who might accidently grant him favor.  Moses got out of Egypt, and who could blame him?
 

Because Pharaoh said Moses was guilty of murder did not make it true.
 

Moses was only guilty of self-defense.
 

Self-defense is not a sin in the eyes of God.  

God’s laws (which were written down much later) actually hold up and condone self-defense.  Moses killing the man in self-defense was not at all the same as Cain murdering Abel.
 

If only the courts of America today could see this!  It is almost like we are again being ruled by Pharaoh in a land where a man is not allowed the freedom to defend himself.  Just like Moses, God has plans for us; but just like Moses; God is going to have to teach us more of his ways first. 

Moses may have already known that God intended for him to free his people; but he was not yet ready.  Everything must be done in accordance with God’s timing. 

There were lessons to learn in Midian that would help to change the world.  It was going to take about 40 more years to learn them.  

Another forty years for Moses; and how many will it take for us?