SHALOM!

 

 

Adar (Hebrew: אֲדָר‬ Adar; from Akkadian adaru) is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a winter month of 29 days.

 

 

The LORD YAHUVEH (a.k.a YAHWEH) Almighty says the following:

Numbers 28:11-13 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Rosh Chodesh: New Moon

¹¹ “On the first of the month you are to present to Adonai a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven flawless male lambs a year old, ¹² with three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering with each bull, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering with the ram, ¹³ and with each lamb a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to Adonai.

 

 

The first day of every new Hebrew month is called:

• ROSH CHODESH (translation: HEAD OF THE MONTH)
• FIRST FRUITS
• NEW MOON

In the Hebrew Month of ADAR, we are entering into Joy!

The Hebrew Month of ADAR is the last month of the year in YAH’S (a.k.a ELOHIM’S) cycle of feasts.

The Hebrew Month of ADAR usually begins in the Gregorian Month of February and spills over into the Gregorian Month of March.

Our Israeli (or Jewish) ancestors had very good understanding through the inspiration of RUACH HA KODESH (a.k.a HOLY SPIRIT) that each month has a Prophetic Significance and that one should pay attention closely. Every month has its own meaning and purpose in YAH’S prophetic plan!!! With this knowledge, our ancestors would gather for fellowship every FIRST FRUITS so as to honour the LORD YAHUVEH as well as seek revelation for the month ahead. Our ancestors knew that if they keep to YAHUVEH ELOHIM’S timing then they would prosper!

 

ADAR being the last month of the year, implies the COMPLETION of a season!

 

ADAR in the Hebrew Language means STRENGTH! Now, what do the Holy Biblical Scriptures say:

Nehemiah 8:9-12 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

⁹ Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the kohen-scribe, and the Levites who were teaching the people said to all the people, “Today is kadosh to Adonai your God. Do not mourn or weep!” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the Torah.

¹⁰ So he said to them, “Go! Eat choice food, drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those who have nothing ready. For today is kadosh to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of Adonai is your strength.”

¹¹ Then the Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Hush! For today is kadosh. Do not grieve.” ¹² So all the people departed to eat and drink, to send portions and to celebrate with great joy, because they came to understand the words that were explained to them.

Compare versions:

Nehemiah 8:9-12 Names of God Bible (NOG)

⁹ Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people told them, “This is a holy day for Yahwehyour Elohim. Don’t mourn or cry.” All the people were crying as they listened to the reading of God’s Teachings. ¹⁰ Then he told them, “Go, eat rich foods, drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those who cannot provide for themselves. Today is a holy day for Adonay. Don’t be sad because the joy you have in Yahweh is your strength.” ¹¹ So the Levites calmed all the people by saying, “Listen. Today is a holy day. Don’t be sad.”

¹² Then all the people went to eat and drink and to send portions. They had a big, joyful celebration because they understood the words that had been explained to them.

 

 

 

Psalm 28:7-9 Names of God Bible (NOG)

 

 

 

The Hebrew Month of ADAR is the Month of the Feast of PURIM (a.k.a Feast of LOTS and FEAST OF ESTHER)!!!

PURIM is the story of ESTHER!

Esther was a young Jewish woman who was chosen to be the Queen of Persia because of her beauty. The Persian Empire was the greatest empire of that day and age.

She had a task to go in before the King un-called/un-summoned in order to save her people from extinction at the risk of being executed.

Through Esther’s (whose original name was Hadassah) bravery,

• a deadly plot was thwarted,
• a curse was overturned

and

• the Children of Israel (a.k.a Jewish people) were rescued from destruction

 

So,

PURIM is therefore a TIME OF GREAT REJOICING!!!

 

In PURIM, Esther revealed her true identity. What does this mean for us?

Well, The Hebrew Month of ADAR is the Month in which YOUR NEW IDENTITY IS TO BE REVEALED! YAH has an identity for you. Your new IDENTITY is linked to the Spiritual Realm (a.k.a the invisible world) not to the Physical Realm (a.k.a natural)! It is not necessarily what you think.

 

YAH wants you to discover your real or true identity which is in YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH (a.k.a JESUS CHRIST/YESHUA) this month!

• Learn what you are in the LORD YAHUVEH!
• Discover the Spiritual Gifts given to you and how to use them to benefit those around you that you may bear good fruit for YAHUVEH ELOHIM!
• Start to move forward and higher toward your destiny in YAH!

 

If the Hebrew Month of ADAR is the Month of PURIM, that means that it is a:

• TIME TO GAIN FAVOUR WITH THE KING!!!
• TIME TO OVERTURN THE CURSE IN EVERY AREA OF YOUR LIFE!!!!
• TIME TO CELEBRATE THAT THE ENEMY HAS BEEN DEFEATED!!!
• TIME TO ENTER  INTO JOY!!!

 

In the Hebrew, Alphabet, there is a specific Letter which is usually associated with the Hebrew Month of ADAR! The letter is called the “KUF/KOF” also written as “QUPH/QOPH”.

“”KUF/KOF” pictures “the eye of a needle”. What does this imply for us?

Well, YOU MAY HAVE TO  NAVIGATE A NARROW PLACE THIS MONTH AS ESTHER DID. Note that YAH gave Esther the revelation which would enable her to get through the narrow place victorious. YAH will do exactly the same for you!

 

Additional information concerning the Hebrew Letter “Kuf/Kof”:

The nineteenth letter of the alef-beis is the kuf.

The design of the kuf is similar to that of the hei. But while the hei represents holiness, the kuf represents kelipah, or unholiness. Both have three lines, two vertical and one horizontal. These three lines, depicting thought, speech and action in the hei, are also represented in the letter kuf, but its three lines represent unholy thoughts, profane speech and evil actions. These negative qualities are illustrated within the actual form of the kuf. Its long left leg plunges beneath the letter’s baseline. It represents one who ventures below the acceptable, an individual who violates the circumscribed boundaries of the TORAH.

It is also significant that the head of the kuf is a reish (in con­trast with the dalet that comprises the hei). We said previously that the difference between the dalet and the reish is the yud in the right-hand corner of the dalet, representing GODLINESS. Given this, the difference between the holiness of the hei and the unholiness of the kuf is even more pronounced.

The Zohar calls the kuf and the reish the letters of falsehood and impurity. We observe this by combining the kuf and the reish, forming the word kar, קר,which means “cold.” Coldness represents unholiness and death. It is antithetical to the state of warmth, life and passion. Who is alive? “Every one of you who has cleaved to YAH your LORD is alive today.”

One who is con­nected to YAH every moment of his life is perpetually warm and alive.

On the other hand, coldness signifies an abyss—the sever­ance of the connection between man and YAH—and ultimate death.

Now reverse the kuf and the reish and it spells the word reik, רק. Reik means “empty.” As we read in the portion of Vayei­shev:4 “The pit was empty (reik); there was no water.” The fact that the Torah says there was no water must come to teach us that there were snakes and scorpions.” We are told that Torah is synonymous with water. Without Torah, there is only poison and doom.

 

The gematria of kuf is one hundred. In this, too, we find the concept of death. We are told of a time when one hundred of King David’s soldiers would perish daily from an epidemic. David beseeched YAH for help. YAH’S reply was to institute the recital of one hundred blessings a day, which David enacted to counteract the one hundred deaths. The one hundred blessings are hinted at in the verse: “What (mah) does YAH ask of you?”

The word mah, “what,” can also be read as meah, which liter­ally means “one hundred.”

What does YAH ask of you? Only to recite one hundred blessings daily. And how do we accumulate these one hundred blessings? One recites the Shemoneh Esreh (the Amidah) three times a day, which contains nineteen bless­ings each for a total of fifty-seven. In the morning prayers, there are an additional twenty-six blessings. Maariv, the eve­ning service, contains four more. Saying the “Grace After Meals” also has four blessings, plus two when we wash our hands and make a blessing on bread. It is thus quite easy to reach one hundred blessings in a day. The kuf, one hundred, represents death. But if one recites these one hundred blessings daily, one can transform a negative decree into a celebration of life.

 

 

The name kuf in Hebrew means monkey. What is a monkey? A mimic, as in the well-known adage: “Monkey see, monkey do.” The letter kuf is also a mimic. It imitates the letter hei. It is the kuf’s extended left leg and the reish for its head that create the difference between life (hei) and death.

 

In conclusion regarding the letter “Kuf/Kof”:

Thus,

• on one hand, the kuf represents death and negative thought, speech and action.
• On the other hand, it invites trans­formation.

Just as the design of the three-sided beis embodies a certain tension that is resolved in the four-sided mem, so does the foot of the kuf call out to be elevated from its station below the horizon. We all have the ability to transform the irrational to the superrational, thus directing our thought, our speech, and our action solely toward YAH and holiness.

The Hebrew Month of ADAR is associated with The Israelite/Israeli Tribe of NAPHTALI.

It means “SWEETNESS IS TO ME”.

What does this mean for us?

This is the Hebrew Month in which to taste the YAH’S sweetness, to taste and see that The LORD YAHUVEH is good as well as to enter into HIS JOY!!!

 

Psalm 34:8-10 Names of God Bible (NOG)

 

YAH wants you to experience HIS Goodness this month!

YAH has good things for you this month!

Jacob gave a significant Prophetic word (a.k.a blessing) over (The Tribe of ) Naphtali and his descendants:

Genesis 49:1-2 Names of God Bible (NOG)

Jacob [Israel] Blesses His 12 Sons

49 Jacob called for his sons and said, “Come here, and let me tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.

² “Gather around and listen, sons of Jacob.
    Listen to your father Israel.

 

 

Genesis 49:21 Names of God Bible (NOG)

²¹ “Naphtali is a doe set free
    that has beautiful fawns.

 

 

Genesis 49:28-33 Names of God Bible (NOG)

²⁸ These are the 12 tribes of Israel and what their father said to them when he gave each of them his special blessing.

²⁹ Then he gave them these instructions, “I am about to join my ancestors in death. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. ³⁰ Abraham bought the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre in Canaan, from Ephron the Hittite to use as a tomb. ³¹ Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there. Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there. I also buried Leah there. ³² The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.”

³³ When Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet into his bed. He took his last breath and joined his ancestors in death.

This very popular song has come to my mind in relation to this and i thought i should add the lyrics:

 

Video: The sound of music – Do Re Mi (a.k.a “Doe a Deer, a female Deer…”)

 

To understand what Jacob is saying, we need to picture a deer confined or imprisoned for a long time in a cage or pen. When Jacob/Israel prophesied over his children, he spoke forth concerning Naphtali that he is a deer that has been set free. Imagine then what happens when they deer is released from its imprisonment:

THE DEER GOES RUNNING AND LEAPING WITH GREAT JOY BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN SET FREE!!!

This is what the Month of ADAR is meant to be like.

ADAR is the month in which to:

• REJOICE
• CELEBRATE
• LEAP FOR JOY
• ENJOY THE GOODNESS AND SWEEETNESS OF YAH Almighty!

 

YAH wants you to rejoice. Remember that Satan/the devil hates JOY!

 

The Holy Biblical Scriptures say that THE JOY OF THE LORD YAHUVEH IS MY STRENGTH! You will not have the STRENGTH to resist the enemy if your life is not filled with JOY!

 

Psalm 5:11 Names of God Bible (NOG)

 

1 Chronicles 16:10-11 Names of God Bible (NOG)

 

Job 8:20-22 Names of God Bible (NOG)

 

 

Psalm 126:3-6 Names of God Bible (NOG)

 

Philippians 4:4-7 Names of God Bible (NOG)

Always Be Joyful

⁴ Always be joyful in the Lord! I’ll say it again: Be joyful! ⁵ Let everyone know how considerate you are. The Lord is near. ⁶ Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks. ⁷ Then God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Yeshua.

 

 

 

 

In summary,

YAH wants you to be JOYFUL

YAH exhorts you to be JOYFUL!

YAH commands you to be JOYFUL!

If you do not have THE JOY OF THE LORD YAHUVEH, then you are being disobedient! JOYLESSNESS IS A SIN!!!

So ask yourself this, ARE YOU A JOYFUL PERSON?

Research reveals that the early followers of YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH (a.k.a JESUS CHRIST/YESHUA) actually listed joylessness as one of the 7 most deadly sins. They even added that being joyless is an actual refusal to enjoy YAH’S goodness!

There is room to REPENT if you are not a very joyful person.

 

Reasons as to why we should rejoice:

• A joyful heart is a healthy heart, a joyful heart will keep you healthy

Proverbs 17:22 Names of God Bible (NOG)

Science also says that a happy heart slows down aging and improves health!

Laughter boosts the immune system!

Laughter speeds the heart rate and improves blood circulation!

Laughter increases Antibodies combating infections!

Laughter causes the body to secrete the enzyme that protects the stomach from forming ulcers.

Laughter alleviates depression, lowers blood pressure, Reduces Stress, Increases the Oxygen levels in our blood, Gives a sense of well being.

Laughter immeasurably increases our enjoyment of life.

 

• A joyful heart is a testimony to the world!

Psalm 67 Names of God Bible (NOG)

Psalm 67

For the choir director; on stringed instruments; a psalm; a song.

¹ May Elohim have pity on us and bless us!
    May he smile on us. Selah
² Then your ways will be known on earth,
    your salvation throughout all nations.

YAH wants you to be so blessed, so overwhelmed that the world around you says, “I want what you’ve got! I want to be as happy as you are” A JOYFUL relationship with your MAKER is contagious!!!

 

You have control over happiness! JOY is not dependent on outside circumstances!

 

YAH commands us to rejoice no matter what. Complaining is a sin! Remember the Children of Israel and the results of complaining. It costed them 40 years. They ended up entering the Promised Land 40 years later instead of 40 days.

If YAH commands you to rejoice, then it means that you have a choice as to whether you are JOYFUL or not!!!

Happiness should be a lifestyle and not just a habit!

Everyone has both POSITIVE and NEGATIVE experiences and we choose which ones we focus on the most. If you choose to focus on and thereby form a HABIT of dwelling on the NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES, then you will be an UNHAPPY PERSON thereby missing the blessings that YAH has for you because you will find yourself wallowing in self-pity as we well depression and grumbling YOU CAN BREAK THIS HABIT BY REPENTING AND CHANGING YOUR WAY OF LIFE OR YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES.

However, if your habit becomes to focus on the POSITIVE experiences, then you will definitely be happy and also enjoy YAH’S blessings.

 

In the Month of ADAR, you are to choose to REJOICE! This is a month in which YAH wants you to walk in JOY! When YAH asks you to REJOICE at all times, HE is not asking the impossible!!!

 

YAH has actually included instructions in HIS WORD on how to be JOYFUL:

Be thankful

Become a giver (be altruistic)

Choose to remember the good things – savor happy memories and put the bad ones in an optimistic light Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8 Names of God Bible (NOG)

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, keep your thoughts on whatever is right or deserves praise: things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable, or commendable.

compare versions:

Philippians 4:8 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise—dwell on these things.

Don’t dwell on the negative!!! Focus on YAH’S blessing! It is then you will become a happier person!!!

When I read the above Holy Biblical Scriptures, I remember or hear this song in my spirit. I thought I should share it.

Video: Steve Green – Think About Such Things [Official Music]

Break out of the Old

Get out of the house!  Break out of isolation! Get busy. Get a Job either paid employment or voluntary work or both. Go to the gymnasium. Go swimming or walking or running or play football. Help the homeless. Join a choir and attend regularly. Create a daily schedule for yourself and work hard to ensure you follow it. Go to regular fellowship with believers in YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH as led by RUACH HA KODESH ! Attend Sports events.

 

Celebrate Sabbath

One day a week, take a day off from work, relax and enjoy the blessings of YAH Almighty! Sabbath is not a sombre day of living under harsh rules!!! It is a day to enjoy YAH and be thankful keeping in mind that YAHUSHUA HA MASHIACH will return for HIS Bride and Guests on a Sabbath. We know not which one!!!

Over the years, the Orthodox Jewish people have developed SABBATH into a FINE ART, that is to say that, on Friday nights, Family and Friends gather for a meal. The mother lights the Sabbath candles and thanks YAH for HIS gift of Shabbat/Sabbath! That is a way to welcome Shabbat. The father takes a glass of wine and a loaf of delicious bread and thanks YAH for HIS provision! It is passed around. Everyone tastes YAH’S goodness. As they eat their food, members of the family, talk and pray blessings over each other and sing praises to the LORD YAHUVEH!

All through the day on Saturday, the family eats, their favourite foods and enjoys their favourite activities and acknowledges that they are experiencing the blessings of a good GOD!

SABBATH IS A SET APART TIME!!!

The Orthodox Jews call it: “SANCTUARY IN TIME”!

They also call it “24 HOURS FROM THE RAT RACE!”

YAH actually gives a PROMISE to those who observe SHABBAT . See Isaiah 58:13 – YOU WILL FIND JOY IN THE LORD YAHUVEH!!!

Isaiah 58:13-14 Names of God Bible (NOG)

 

Note that SHABBAT is not just for the Jews! See Isaiah 56:6-7

Isaiah 56:6-7 Names of God Bible (NOG)

⁶ And I will remember the foreigners who have joined Yahweh to worship him, to love Yahweh’s name, and to be his servants. All of them will keep the day of worship from becoming unholy and will faithfully observe the conditions of my promise. ⁷ Then I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them happy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, because my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

YAH will give the foreigners (a.k.a Gentiles) JOY if they take delight in HIS SHABBAT and House of Prayer!!!

If you need more JOY in your life, YAH says, discover the blessing of SABBATH!!!

 

 

Celebrate the Biblical Feasts or Festivals

This will also add YAH’S JOY to your life. Let’s look at how Nehemiah described what happened when they were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles/Shelters/Booths [a.k.a SUKKOT(H)].

Nehemiah 8:13-18 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Feast of Tabernacles

¹³ Now on the second day the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Law. ¹⁴ And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, ¹⁵ and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

¹⁶ Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. ¹⁸ Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.

 

 

   

 

 

According to verse 17 of Nehemiah 8, they were all filled with great JOY!!!

What they did then in the days of Nehemiah, still works today! When we make a SUKKAH, we suddenly feel very JOYFUL!

The Festivals are a time to get together with people you know and love, eat, drink and be merry and most importantly talk about YAH’S goodness!!!

YAH says that if you celebrate HIS feasts, YAH will bless you and your JOY will be complete!!!

YAH did not create the SABBATH AND MOEDIM (a.k.a Feast Days) to make us miserable but rather to bring JOY to us.

 

 

Forgive Others

Stop carrying baggage from your past! It only makes you bitter. Forgive and move one!

 

 

Stop Worrying

You need to memorise the following Holy Biblical Scripture and practise saying to yourself. In a stressful situation, do what you can do or you know you are supposed to do and leave the rest to YAH to do.

1 Peter 5:7 Names of God Bible (NOG)

⁷ Turn all your anxiety over to God because he cares for you.

 

 

Choose to Praise YAH joyfully!

See Psalm 103 where David commands HIS innermost being to praise YAH!!!

Psalm 103 Names of God Bible (NOG)

Psalm 103

By David.

¹ Praise Yahweh, my soul!
    Praise his holy name, all that is within me.
² Praise Yahweh, my soul,
    and never forget all the good he has done:
³         He is the one who forgives all your sins,
            the one who heals all your diseases,
⁴             the one who rescues your life from the pit,
            the one who crowns you with mercy and compassion,
⁵             the one who fills your life with blessings
                so that you become young again like an eagle.

⁶ Yahweh does what is right and fair
    for all who are oppressed.
⁷         He let Moses know his ways.
        He let the Israelites know the things he had done.
⁸ Yahweh is compassionate, merciful, patient,
    and always ready to forgive.

⁹ He will not always accuse us of wrong
    or be angry with us forever.
¹⁰ He has not treated us as we deserve for our sins
    or paid us back for our wrongs.

¹¹ As high as the heavens are above the earth—
    that is how vast his mercy is toward those who fear him.
¹² As far as the east is from the west—
    that is how far he has removed our rebellious acts from himself.
¹³ As a father has compassion for his children,
    so Yahweh has compassion for those who fear him.

¹⁴ He certainly knows what we are made of.
    He bears in mind that we are dust.
¹⁵ Human life is as short-lived as grass.
    It blossoms like a flower in the field.
¹⁶ When the wind blows over the flower, it disappears,
    and there is no longer any sign of it.

¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting,
    Yahweh’s mercy is on those who fear him.
        His righteousness belongs
            to their children and grandchildren,
¹⁸ to those who are faithful to his promise,^[a]
    to those who remember to follow his guiding principles.
¹⁹ Yahweh has set his throne in heaven.
    His kingdom rules everything.

 

Prophet Moshe/Moses also prophesied about Naphtali as follows:

Deuteronomy 33:23 Names of God Bible (NOG)

²³ About the tribe of Naphtali he said,

 

King David wasn’t feeling joyful but he praised YAH anyway. King David instructed his soul (a.k.a inner most being) to praise YAH! In the process of endured and eventually became JOYFUL.

 

Finally, Be filled with RUACH HA KODESH (a.k.a HOLY SPIRIT)

Remember that part of the FRUIT OF RUACH HA KODESH is JOY! Let YAH’S River of JOY flow in and through you!

The more you draw closer to YAH, the more you become filled with RUACH HA KODESH thereby increasing your level of Joy. When you get JOY, express it. YAH tells us to SHOUT FOR JOY!

Psalm 98:4 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

When you express your JOY outwardly, it intensifies!!!

YAH wants you to know that you are not dependent on your circumstances for JOY!

You can get JOY from your circumstances. YAH can and does bless you through your circumstances!

YAH wants to always lead you into triumph over the enemy! Don’t be worn down by the cares of this world!

As we enter into the Hebrew Month of ADAR, YAH wants you to know that THE OLD DEAD WINTER SEASON IS OVER AND DONE WITH. A New Season is Springing forth!!!

YAH wants to bring you into a NEW SEASON OF REJOICING!!!

 

In this month of ADAR, receive the JOY OF RUACH HA KODESH in YAHUSHUA’S name! AMEN!

 

 

Video:  I’ve Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy (Down in My Heart) – HERITAGE KIDS (Lyrics)

 

 

When Naphtali was born, the following was what Rachel said:

Genesis 30:7-8 Names of God Bible (NOG)

⁷ Rachel’s slave Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. ⁸ Rachel said, “I have had a great struggle^[a] with my sister, and I have won!” So she named him Naphtali [My Struggle].

It is interesting that Rachel said the above words when Naphtali was born because when related to the Hebrew Month of ADAR and PURIM, the link is very clear.

Note that in the PURIM story, we celebrate the victory over Haman who is the enemy of the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel had been struggling with the Amalekites for a very long time. In fact, it was King David whom destroyed most of them. However, later on in history, came Haman, a descendant of the Amalekites. He enacted his descendants actions. Praise YAH for Haman’s did not succeed!

Rachel had her own personal reasons for naming him “my wrestling.” But his name became prophetic in another way. First, the word “mighty” is from the Hebrew word Elohim, “God or gods.” Secondly, “wrestlings” is from the Hebrew word naphtuwlim, the plural of naphtuwl, “contention, battle, fight.” Naphtuwl is from the root word pathal, “to twist, wrestle.”

It is unclear if Rachel’s thought was that she was wrestling God or if God was working with many twists and turns in their lives. Certainly, it runs parallel to a later time when Jacob wrestled with the angel of God, which he thought was a man until something supernatural occurred (Genesis 32:24). So both Jacob and Rachel “wrestled” with God in their own way, and each “prevailed” (yakol). The same word is used in Genesis 32:28 when it says that Jacob “prevailed.”

Even as Jacob and Esau had contended for the birthright, so also did Leah and Rachel contend (“wrestle”) in their child-bearing competition, each having the goal of bringing forth the son who would inherit the birthright.

Rachel thought she was wrestling with her sister, while Jacob thought he was wrestling with his brother. In the end, they both discovered by revelation that they had been wrestling with God, and through this they learned the sovereignty of God.

By these stories we see how Naphtali’s life was a prophecy. He pictures a long-distance runner—a stag—who endures to the end to become an overcomer. Jacob was a “heel-catcher” who caught up to Esau and passed him in the end. Rachel was childless and was soon far behind Leah in the competition for children, but in the end she too prevailed by bringing forth Joseph, the inheritor of the birthright.

In the time of Joshua, when the twelve tribes received their inheritance, Naphtali was given land in the north above Zebulun. Asher was to the west, “Judah upon Jordan” to the east (Joshua 19:34, KJV). The main tribe of Judah was located far to the south, but apparently there was a settlement that went by the name of “Judah” that was located at the Jordan River as it flowed out south from the Sea of Galilee.

One of their fortified cities was Chinnereth (Joshua 19:35), which is the Hebrew name for the Sea of Galilee.

So the prophecy in Isaiah 9:1 about the darkness that was to come upon Zebulun and Naphtali and “Galilee of the nations” applied to the tribe of Naphtali. For this reason Jesus moved to Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee. The light of Christ thus came not only to Zebulun but also to Naphtali (Matthew 4:13-16). Zebulun was given the “gift” of light, but Naphtali shows how Christ “wrestled” with the people in His call to repentance (Matthew 4:17).

By combining the two tribal blessings, Isaiah sees Galilee of the Nations as a long-term “marathon” project, where the light eventually wins over the darkness. Though Christ was the contender for the throne, He understood the long-term divine plan, and in this way he differed from both Jacob and Rachel, who thought that they had to force the issue in order to inherit. Jesus acted like a lamb and did not fight to obtain the scepter. His wrestling was in the area of preaching and teaching, for He had to contend with long-established traditions of men. His preaching, however, was eloquent, though He spoke in parables that many did not understand. Thus, multitudes came to hear Him, and many followed the light that He presented to them as a gift from God.

 

The following Holy Scripture is very true and is actually evidenced in the Book of Jasher:

 

 

HISTORICAL EVENTS:

n Adar 13, during the biblical story of Purim, the 10 sons of Haman were hanged (Esther 9:7). This would find eerie parallel over 2,000 years later when 10 top Nazi officials were hanged at the Nuremberg Trials. Incredibly, the Hebrew year of the hangings at Nuremberg, 5707, is encoded in the Book of Esther: In the listing of Haman’s 10 sons, three Hebrew letters — taf, shin and zayin, representing the year 5707 — are written unusually small. (This anomaly appears in every authentic Megillah scroll, written that way for over 2,000 years.) Incredibly, when Nazi officer Julius Streicher ascended the gallows to be hanged at Nuremberg, he shouted, “Purimfest 1946.”

 

• 1 Adar (circa 1313 BCE) – Plague of Darkness, the ninth plague upon the Egyptians (Exodus 10:23). This started on the 1st of Adar, six weeks before the Exodus.^{[citation needed]}
• 1 Adar (1164) – Death of the Ibn Ezra
• 1 Adar (circa 1663) – Death of the Shach
• 2 Adar (598 BCE) – Jerusalem falls to Nebuchadnezzar and Jeconiah is captured.^[2]
• 3 Adar (515 BCE) – Second Temple completed
• 4 Adar (1307) – Maharam‘s body ransomed 14 years after his death by Alexander ben Shlomo (Susskind) Wimpfen.
• 4 Adar (1796) – Death of Rabbi Leib Sarah’s, a disciple of the Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov. One of the “hidden tzaddikim,” Rabbi Leib spent his life wandering from place to place to raise money for the ransoming of imprisoned Jews and the support of other hidden tzaddikim.
• 5 Adar (1st century CE) – Lulianos and Paphos voluntarily gave themselves up to be killed, in order to save innocent Jewish lives in Laodicea.^[3]
• 7 Adar (1393 BCE) – Birth of Moses
• 7 Adar (1273 BCE) – Death of Moses
• 7 Adar (1828) – Death of Rebbe Isaac Taub of Kalov, founder of the Kalover Hasidic dynasty, and a student of Rabbi Leib Sarah’s.
• 9 Adar (1st century BCE) – Academic dissension between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, erupted into a violent and destructive conflict over a vote on 18 legal matters leading to the death of 3,000 students. The day was later declared a fast day by the Shulchan Aruch, however, it was never observed as such.
• 11 Adar (18th century) – Death of Reb Eliezer Lipman (Elezer Lippe), father of the prominent Chassidic Rebbes Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk and Rabbi Zusha of Hanipol.
• 13 Adar (474BCE) – War between Jews and their enemies in Persia (Book of Esther, chapter 9).
• 13 Adar (161 BCE) – Yom Nicanor – The Maccabees defeated Syrian general Nicanor, in a battle fought four years after the Maccabees’ liberation of the Holy Land and the miracle of Hanukkah.
• 13 Adar (1895-1986) – Death of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
• 14 Adar (474 BCE) – Purim victory celebrated in the Persian Empire
• 15 Adar (474 BCE) – Purim Victory Celebrated in Shushan
• 15 Adar (1st century CE) – Jerusalem Gate Day – King Agrippa I (circa 21 CE) began construction of a gate for the wall of Jerusalem; the day used to be celebrated as a holiday.
• 17 Adar (522 BCE) – Yom Adar – the day the Jewish people left Persia following the Purim story^{[citation needed]}
• 20 Adar (1st century BCE) – Choni the Circle Maker prays for rain (Talmud, Taanit 23a)
• 20 Adar (1616 CE) – ‘Purim Vinz’: downfall of Vinzenz Fettmilch and triumphant return of the Jews of Frankfurt under Imperial protection. The day was established as a community Purim for generations and to this day the Washington Heights community does not recite Tachanun on this day.^[4]
• 20 Adar (1640) – Death of the “Bach“
• 21 Adar (Adar II, 1786) – Death of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk
• 23 Adar (circa 1312 BCE) – Mishkan assembled for the first time; “Seven Days of Training” begin.
• 23 Adar (1866) – Death of Yitzchak Meir Alter, first Rebbe of Ger
• 24 Adar (1817) – The Blood Libel, the accusation that Jews murdered Christian children for their blood, declared false by Czar Alexander I. Nevertheless, nearly a hundred years later the accusation was officially leveled against Mendel Beilis in Kiev.
• 25 Adar (561 BCE) – Death of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 52:31).
• 25 Adar (1761) – Death of Rabbi Abraham Gershon of Kitov the brother-in-law and leading foe-turned-disciple of the Baal Shem Tov.^[5]
• 27 Adar (561 BCE) – Death of Zedekiah in Babylonian captivity. Meroduch, Nebuchadnezzar’s son and successor, freed him (and his nephew Jeconiah) on the 27th of Adar, but Zedekiah died that same day.
• 28 Adar (from the 2nd century onwards) – Talmudic holiday to commemorate the rescinding of a Roman decree against Torah study, ritual circumcision, and keeping the Shabbat. The decree was revoked through the efforts of Rabbi Yehudah ben Shamu’a and his colleagues. (Megillat Taanit, a baraita on this matter can still be found in Ta’anit 18a and Rosh Hashanah 19a)
• 28 Adar (1524) – the Jews of Cairo were saved from the plot of Ahmad Pasha, who sought revenge against the Jewish minister Abraham de Castro who had informed Selim II of Ahmad’s plan to cede from the Ottoman Empire. To this day, Adar 28th is considered the Purim of Cairo, with festivities including a special Megilah reading.