“Who can stand before His fury, and who can rise against His burning wrath? His wrath is poured out like fire and rocks become shattered because of Him. HaShem is beneficent, a stronghold on the day of distress, and mindful of those who take refuge in Him.” Nahum 1:6-7
I know, I usually begin each Op pointing out how perilous the days are in which we currently live, but to say that today is just pointless. It is a true statement none of us have seen the world in the current perilous state as it is before us today! World War III is literally just days or weeks away and this is NOT an understatement or an exaggeration! Financial distress keeps increasing each week it seems. The corruption and debauchery in our government and society is beyond description. Idolatry of every imagination is readily available at literally just a click away. Whatever one’s heart desires, can be at their doorstep in a blink of an eye! To sum it up: Right is wrong and wrong is right.
As I put this Op together, we are seven days past Pesach (Passover) 2023. We know the significance of Pesach i.e. the miraculous deliverance and rescuing of Israel from the bondage of Egypt by the Strong Hand of HaShem! But there is so more to it than this in that Pesach is the beginning of redemption but culminates on Shavuot, fifty days later!
What is the significance of these fifty days and why does HaShem command we are to count each day? This will be addressed in the Op, but first and foremost, always remember the following eternal characteristics of HaShem and His Torah:
- HaShem never changes per Num 23:19/Mal 3:6/Hebrews 13:8/James 1:17
- His Word is firmly established per Psalm 119:89
- He reveals the end out of the beginning per Is 46:10
- He does nothing without first revealing it to His prophets per Amos 3:7
- He says there is nothing new under the sun per Ecclesiastes 1:9
- He says His Torah is the ONLY truth there is per Psalms 119:142
- He says His Torah is a tree of life and eternal per Proverbs 3:18-19 and Psalm 119:160
- He says His Torah is perfect and restores the soul per Psalm 19:7
- He says His Torah makes the simple one wise per Psalm 19:7
- He says His Torah Is freedom and liberty per Psalm 119:45 and James 1:25
- He says His Torah is the only good doctrine there is Proverbs 4:2
- He says His Torah will add length of days and years of life and peace per Proverbs 3:2
- He says all of the ways of His Torah are ways of pleasantness and peace per Proverbs 3:17
- He says His Torah is for our good and well-being per Deuteronomy 6:24
- He says His Torah is health for our lives per Proverbs 3:8
- He says His Torah is life to our soul and a graceful ornament for our neck per Prov 3:22
- He says His Torah is better than pearls and all desires cannot compare to it per Prov 8:11
- He says those who walk with His Torah are praiseworthy per Psalms 119:1
- He says observing His Torah is how we purify our path per Psalms 119:9
- He says His Torah is better than thousands in gold and silver per Psalms 119:72
- He says His Torah brings abundant peace to those who love Him and His Torah per Psalms 119:165
- He says there is one Torah for all per Exodus 12:49/Leviticus 24:22
- He says those who hate His Torah love death per Proverbs 8:36
- He says His Torah is the way of faith per Psalms 119:29-30
- He says His Torah makes us wiser than our enemies per Psalms 119:98
- He says His Torah is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path per Psalms 119:105
- He says one who finds His Torah has found life per Proverbs 8:35
- He says one who finds His Torah has found favor from HaShem per Proverbs 8:35
- He says Messiah Yeshua is the GOAL of His Torah, meaning without His Torah, Messiah cannot be known per Romans 10:4
- He says if we had believed Moshe/Torah, we would have believed Messiah per John 5:46
- He says His salvation is far from the wicked for they sought not His Torah per Psalms 119:155
- He says to hold fast to and guard His Torah, for it is our life per Proverbs 4:13
- He says His Torah is the bread of life per Proverbs 9:5
“You shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day, from the day you bring the Omer of the waving, SEVEN WEEKS, they shall be complete. Until the morrow of the seventh week shall count, FIFTY DAYS; and you shall offer a new meal offering to HaShem.” Leviticus 23:15-16
So you may be asking what the significance of counting these fifty days after Pesach is? The commentary on these verses is enlightening. It says “Unlike all the festivals, Shavuos is not identified as a specific day in the calendar, but as the fiftieth day after the Omer offering (The new barley harvest). Beginning on the second day of Pesach, when that offering is brought, forty nine days are counted, and the next day, the fiftieth, is Shavuos. This recalls the days in the Wilderness immediately after the Exodus, when the Jewish people excitedly counted the days, each day improving and elevating themselves, so that they would be worthy of receiving the Torah. The fact that Shavuos does not have a calendar date of its own, but is attached to Pesach by the seven week count, symbolizes that the freedom of Pesach is not an independent value to Israel, but is significant as the prelude to the giving of the Torah. The count does not begin on the first day of Pesach, because that day is reserved for celebration of the Exodus and its miracles, because that event established undeniably that G-d alone controls nature and changes it at will to suit His purposes.”
In other words, Pesach begins the process of our redemption and deliverance, by miraculous events orchestrated by HaShem, and then we spend the forty nine days counting in an effort to improve our walk with HaShem. It has NOTHING to do with earning or obtaining salvation as many in Christendom constantly accuse me of teaching, salvation has already been given by HaShem i.e. Pesach, now BECAUSE of being saved by Him, we now strive to improve ourselves!
Nothing is a coincidence with HaShem, thus, what is the significance of the number fifty? Per the book Jewish Wisdom in the Numbers it states “The number fifty is the distinguished number of transcendence. The milestone of the 50th is reached after passing through all the necessary stages. Here the cumulative levels combine to arrive at the ultimate level, one that transcends everything that came before it.”
Keep this in mind when examining the Exodus from Egypt! HaShem delivers Israel out of bondage and then forty nine days later brings Israel to Mount Sinai on Shavuos and gives Israel the Torah! This book further says “The momentous event that commemorates the birth of the Children of Israel as a nation was the departure from Egypt. Not only is there a twice daily remembrance of this milestone, but much of the Commandments observance is marked by repeated references to the Exodus. Its central importance is due to this event celebrating the Jewish People’s brand new state of existence. Their deliverance was not only from physical slavery but also from the Egyptian worldview. The Exodus released them from an outlook constrained by the natural realm. The redemption catapulted Israel into an alternate state of reality. They exchanged the restricted for the extraordinary. It was the seminal event that would define what Israel had now become i.e. HaShem’s Chosen People. Their transcendental quality was now evident in the aftermath of their trailblazing liberation. This historic event of the Exodus is mentioned in the Chumash (Five volumes of the Torah) a total of 50 times! And the redemption process which started on the first day of Pesach finally reached its completion stage 50 days later at Sinai. Indeed, HaShem freed the Children of Israel in order that they accept the Torah. The Divine instruction given to Moshe at the burning bush was to lead Israel out of Egypt and bring the nation to serve HaShem at that mountain!”
We see here the redemption process BEGAN at Pesach and then culminated at Mount Sinai on Shavuos when HaShem gave Israel His Torah! Now, as I have been recently accused by the Christians of teaching death, destruction, deception and bondage i.e. the Torah of HaShem, is it then possible HaShem delivers Israel from bondage, brings them to Mount Sinai on Shavuos and then shackles Israel with an even greater, more destructive bondage called the Torah? Shaking my head in disgust! The only way to make this foundational doctrine of Replacement Theology work is for HaShem to be a liar and a fraud! We know without a doubt HaShem is absolute truth and purity! I digress.
There are 613 Mitzvos (Commandments) in the Torah. Number 306 is ‘The Obligation of Counting the Omer’ per Leviticus 23:15-16. Counting the Omer is when we each acknowledge each day as the weeks draw closer to Shavuos i.e. the 50th day after Pesach! I will include in this Op a Counting of the Omer calendar for 2023 published by Chabad. You will then see exactly what Counting the Omer looks like!
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/sefirah/omer-calendar_cdo/jewish/Omer-Calendar.htm
The Book of the Mitzvos discusses #306 i.e. The Obligation of Counting the Omer. It states “Among the underlying purposes of the mitzvah, according to the basic understanding, is its focus on the anticipation of the day of our receiving the Torah. For the sole purpose of Israel is its adherence to the Torah, and, in fact, it is for the sake of the Torah that the heavens and earth, and Israel were all created, as it is written per Jeremiah 33:26 ‘If not for My covenant of day and night, I would not have established the statutes of heaven and earth.’ This is the purpose and the reason for which the Jewish people were redeemed and went out of Egypt, namely, so as to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai and fulfill it; as HaShem said to Moshe at the Burning Bush on Mount Sinai, when He sent him to redeem the Jewish people per Exodus 3:12.”
Did you catch that? All of HaShem’s creation is created solely for the sake of His Torah!! Now does it make much more sense as to why the Adversary works so hard to convince people His Torah is the epitome of death, destruction, bondage and deception as most of Christendom teaches today? If the Adversary can get people to separate themselves from HaShem’s Torah, then people cannot know HaShem and certainly cannot know the Messiah of HaShem i.e. Yeshua. Moving on.
The commentary referencing Jeremiah 33:26 is very enlightening. It says “The covenant of day and night refers to the Torah which must be studied day and night, as per the verse in Joshua 1:8 ‘And you shall contemplate it day and night.’ Accordingly this verse is understood to mean that were it not for the Torah studied by the Jewish people day and night, HaShem would not have established the statutes of heaven and earth. The Torah thus gives purpose to the heavens, the earth, and the Jewish people!”
The commentary from the Book of the Mitzvos goes on and says “Now, because of this, that is, since the Torah is the sole purpose of Israel, and it is on account of the Torah that they were redeemed from Egypt and elevated to all the heights that they attained, we are therefore commanded to count from the day after the first Yom Tov day of Pesach, which is the day of the Exodus, up until the day of the giving of the Torah. This is dome so that we internalize the great desire for that honored day, which is longed for in our hearts. We are thus like a slave who awaits the evening shade, who continuously counts , wondering when the time for which he longs, the time at which he will go free shall arrive. The act of counting indicates to the person that his entire yearning and his entire desire is to reach that time toward which he is counting.”
Again, we see the connection between redemption and the Torah! First we are redeemed i.e. saved, and THEN HaShem gives us His Torah to know how to live and walk in service unto Him BECAUSE we are saved! With this said thus far, does the concept of the Messiah of HaShem dying on Pesach to free His people from the Torah make any sense what so ever? Obviously its utter and complete demonic Replacement Theology nonsense!
Why is this so important today in 2023? Well, in my opinion, since HaShem reveals the end from the beginning and there is nothing new under the sun, we acknowledge Pesach and the beginning of our redemption and then count 49 days i.e. Counting the Omer, getting ourselves ready for Shavuos on the 50th day in which we receive His Torah i.e. the culmination of freedom! Is it possible HaShem could act this Shavuos and freedom be more literal than spiritual i.e. the Final Redemption? I cannot say it won’t or cannot happen as only HaShem knows when that day will come, but judging by world events around us, I believe that day is very rapidly approaching!
May it be so very soon in our days!!!
SOURCE MATERIALS
- The Book of the Mitzvot by Artscroll
- The Chumash with the Teachings of the Talmud by Artscroll