Shalom Qodeshim,

I was watching the history channel last night. Unfortunately I was sucked in again. I don't know why I keep coming back like a stooge time after time. When it comes to their biblical programming all they do is anger me usually. Well last night they had a special on the ark and I was thoroughly dissatisfied with that. But then they had a program on about the lost books of the bible. They were talking about Yahushua in the Besorah of Mattithyahu in this particular context:

Mat 12:22 Then they brought to Him one who was demon-possessed, blind and dumb. And He healed him, so that the blind and dumb man both spoke and saw.
Mat 12:23 And all the crowds were amazed and said, “Is this the Son of Dawiḏ?”
Mat 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This one does not cast out demons except by Beʽelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
Mat 12:25 And יהושע knew their thoughts, and said to them, “Every reign divided against itself is laid waste, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.
Mat 12:26 “And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then does his reign stand?
Mat 12:27 “And if I, by Beʽelzebul, do cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Because of this they shall be your judges.
Mat 12:28 “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of Elohim, then the reign of Elohim has come upon you.


Mat 12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from You.”
Mat 12:39 But He answering, said to them, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Yonah.
Mat 12:40 “For as Yonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the great fish, so shall the Son of Aḏam be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mat 12:41 “Men of Ninewĕh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Yonah, and look, a greater than Yonah is here.
Mat 12:42 “The sovereigness of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Shelomoh, and look, a greater than Shelomoh is here.

The learned scholars made the assertion that Yahushua was referring to Solomon because the Testament of Solomon was a popular work with the people at this time. In the testament of Solomon, the king is given a ring which gives him the power to subdue demons. He uses this power to subdue to make the demons help him build the temple. What they said was in the context Yahushua was casting out demons and used the example of Solomon...an example of the archetype master of demons to drive the point home. It's an interesting theory at the least. I am not sure if it is true or not. It's not necessarily a bad thing if it is true I suppose because for the reason that the Messiah was giving the people an example they could relate to in the context of the culture at the time and it still works on an obtuse surface level even if one does not understand the cultural backdrop of the time of Messiah. Messiah has made more enigmatic and culturally exclusive comments than this...as in "No one knows the date or hour", which has thrown off scores of people who are probably already...admittedly complacent in regard to the end times. But those who will dig deeper know that this is a a reference to Yom Teruah.

I am not saying that this is true or that it's even important if it is. Actually I have my doubts to the truthfulness of the claim. All it can say is that it was the only plausible thing they brought up. In light of the references to the Deuterocanon in the Besorim and the letters, I am more and more compelled to read the Apocrypha and other pseudepigraphical works. I understand fully that they are not scriptures and I would never claim them to be, but in light of how the Talmidim and Apostles used them, they obviously thought of them as important works of literature or history that had a great deal of worth. I believe that in the future I will be reading them to get some backround information and to get a hold of the context...but trying to always keep sight of what the material is and not confusing my priorities. I don't think I will tackle this now as I would like to have a better grasp and understanding of the Tanakh and the Besorim before I go digging through the confusing and often convuluted world of "sacred" texts. I can only speak for myself but I think one must be especially weary of the renewed covenant extra canonical material but that is not to say the reader should be relaxed around the covenant material. Alot of this material is the in realm of Qabbalism. Haha, see, I have almost scared myself out of reading it now.

YHWH Imakhem


Shalom

Edited by user Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:07:30 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified