Lessons from the Wilderness, Vol. 38: This Fragile Breath, Part One. What is it and what are we to do with it? Let us begin...

 ©2021, David E. Robinson: At the Gates of Yerushalayim Ministries

 Go to Part Two

Lessons from the Wilderness, Volume 38

 …This Fragile Breath… ^{[i] [ii] [iii] [iv]}

Part One

Psalm 144 (Tanakh)
¹ Of David. Blessed is the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for warfare; ² my faithful one, my fortress, my haven and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take shelter, who makes peoples subject to me. ³ O Lord, what is man that You should care about him, mortal man, that You should think of him? 

⁴ Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. 

⁵ O Lord, bend Your sky and come down; touch the mountains and they will smoke. ⁶ Make lightning flash and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them. ⁷ Reach Your hand down from on high; rescue me, save me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners, ⁸ whose mouths speak lies, and whose oaths are false. ⁹ O God, I will sing You a new song, sing a hymn to You with a ten-stringed harp, ¹⁰ to You who give victory to kings, who rescue His servant David from the deadly sword. ¹¹ Rescue me, save me from the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies, and whose oaths are false. ¹² For our sons are like saplings, well-tended in their youth; our daughters are like cornerstones trimmed to give shape to a palace. ¹³ Our storehouses are full, supplying produce of all kinds; our flocks number thousands, even myriads, in our fields; ¹⁴ our cattle are well cared for. There is no breaching and no sortie, and no wailing in our streets. ¹⁵ Happy the people who have it so; happy the people whose God is the Lord. ^[v]

 

“…I searched the world for a song that I could sing
Praise to my King, a gift that I could bring
But no music I found could compare to You
Not one could do justice to Your glory
What are my songs compared to Yours

You speak with thunder and lightning
Your voice shakes the mountains
The foundations of the earth
All I can offer is this fragile breath
With each one I'll praise You
With each one I'll praise You more…”[vi]

To my beloved readers: no, I have not forgotten our study on Revelation, but my study of the Book has taken me to different places, and it takes awhile to sort it all out. Know this, when we return to it, all that is taking place in the world today may seem to make more since and give you a better perspective of where we are on the prophetic timeline of history. That is not to say my take has any weight: that is why each must read those words, study those words, and then come to their own conclusion. What I hope to do is give you insight into looking at these from a proper cultural and audience based (i.e., a First Century viewpoint) perspective that will lead you to right conclusions. So, more to come on that, we will finish the study. For know though, let us step back and reflect where we are today. We are, according to the Jewish calendar, amid Sukkot, the Feast of Booths. This is, according to the Jewish calendar, the year 5782 (secular year began on Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets). To fully explain the how and why of the setting of the Jewish calendar by Hillel II, is way beyond the scope of this epistle. I would encourage those who wish to hold to the Jewish calendar to go to www.chabad.org and look at their series on the Jewish calendar – and start here:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/55194/jewish/Introduction.htm .

For those who have the opposing view I offer this [with style edits such as font etc., being mine to better fit this format]:

[START ARTICLE]

Validating the Different Calendar Methods

28 Sep, ‍‍2012 - 5772 / 5773

cbb

The Biblical Calendar

Methods and Validation

By Clint Branham 9-28-2012

I am not attempting to justify one method over another, I am acknowledging and recognizing that no matter how much other methods appear to line up with scripture, only one method is consistently validated through events spanning hundreds of years!

Here is an overview of my understanding of the Biblical calendar.

 Universally agreed upon facts:

1.      The Year starts in the Spring.

2.      The Year is Lunar based

3.      The Year has 12 or 13 months.

Not agreed upon:

*      How does the Month Start?

o   Sighting of the sliver

§  From Jerusalem?

§  From your current location?

o   The Conjunction?

o   A calculated day? (i.e., Jewish Calendar)

o   On the full Moon?

*      How does the Year begin?

o   Sighting of the Barley?

§  Where?

§  Who has authority?

§  By who’s authority?

o   New Moon after the Equinox?

o   New Moon before the Equinox where Passover falls after the Equinox?

o   A calculated start? (i.e., Jewish Calendar)

Each method has basis in scripture and earnest men believe strongly about each method. BUT it doesn’t matter what WE feel or believe to be true. The only thing that matters is what the Father intended.

 Very Important Questions:

 *      Do any of these methods have any evidence that they are the method that is endorsed by the Father?

    o   In other words, have any historical events happened that would confirm one method over another?

    o   Are there any astrological events that confirm one method over another?

 

To my knowledge there is only one method that has any real evidence that it is the correct one. It is the most unlikely; the calculated Jewish Calendar. This method has historic events that could possibly have been manipulated by Satan or men, but it also has Astrological events that could not have been manipulated.

 The First Set of Events:

Tisha B’Av or the 9^th of Av. Historically a day of great calamity for the Jews. (These events could possibly have been manipulated to occur on the 9^th of Av) …

•       The Second Temple was supposedly destroyed on the 9^th of AV 70 AD.
•       The First Crusade was declared by Pope Urban II in 1095, killing 10,000 Jews in its first month and destroying Jewish communities in France and the Rhineland.
•       Jews were expelled from England in 1290.
•       Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492.
•       On Tisha B’Av 1914 (August 1, 1914), World War I broke out, causing unprecedented devastation across Europe and set the stage for World War II and the Holocaust.
•       On the eve of Tisha B’Av 1942, the mass deportation began of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, enroute to Treblinka.

Second Set of Events:

Blood Red Moons also known as a Tetrad (these could NOT have been manipulated.) Four consecutive lunar eclipses are all total eclipses, the group is known as a Tetrad.

 In the past 500 years there have ONLY been three Tetrads (sets of blood-red moons), ALL of them corresponded to significant events with the Jewish People or Nation, and ALL occurred on feast days on the Jewish calendar.

All blood-red moons on these following feast dates… All had back-to-back, blood-red moons occur on the first day of Passover and Sukkot the following two years or beginning the same year as the Event.

 

The Spanish Inquisition — 1492
* Passover, April 2, 1493
* Sukkot, Sept. 25, 1493
* Passover, March 22, 1494
* Sukkot, Sept. 15, 1494

From 1494 until 1949 there were ZERO sets of blood Red Moons!

The War of Independence — 1948
* Passover, April 13, 1949
* Sukkot, Oct. 7, 1949
* Passover, April 2, 1950
* Sukkot, Sept. 26, 1950

The Six-Day War — 1967
* First Day of Passover, April 24, 1967
* First Day of Sukkot, Oct. 18, 1967
* First Day of Passover, April 13, 1968
* First Day of Sukkot, Oct. 6, 1968

 There is a fourth Tetrad (set of Blood Red Moons) scheduled to occur in 2014-2015, exactly on feast days that are on the calculated Jewish calendar.

 What major event will occur in the 2014–2015 time-period involving the Hebrew people?

 * First Day of Passover, April 15, 2014

* First Day of Sukkot, Oct. 8, 2014
* First Day of Passover, April 4, 2015
* First Day of Sukkot, Sept. 28, 2015

•       Joel 2:31: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
•       Act 2:20: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come…
•       Rev 6:12: And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood…

Third Set of Events:

  In 2014-2015 there will be 4 lunar eclipses and 2 solar eclipses, all falling on Jewish holidays on the calculated Calendar, including Rosh Hashanah in 2015! This will not happen again in this century.

Fourth Set of Events:

  Additional Eclipses on Specific Dates:

 

August 1, 2008	Av 1	Total Solar Eclipse
July 22, 2009	Av 1	Total Lunar Eclipse
July 11, 2010	Av 1	Total Lunar Eclipse
March 20, 2015	Nissan 1	Total Solar Eclipse

These dates don’t match the feasts on the sighted moon calendar, BUT they match EXACTLY on the Calculated Jewish calendar.

Additional info:

In Esther 3:1, we are told that Haman is an Agagite. Agag was the king of Amalek (1 Sam. 15:8). Therefore, Haman and his sons were Amalekites. Rabbi Elijah Solomon, a prominent Lithuanian rabbi of the 18th century known as “the great one of Vilna,” held the tradition that the German nation was descended from Amalek.

 During World War II, the Nazis in Germany tried to wipe the Jewish race from the face of the earth. Six million Jews were killed by the Germans. After the end of the war, the surviving Nazi leaders were tried at Nuremberg for this and other war crimes. These trials began on November 20, 1945, for 22 German Nazi leaders.

 On October 1, 1946, 12 of the German defendants were sentenced to death by hanging for their part in the atrocities committed against the Jews and others. One of those convicted was Martin Bormann, who was sentenced in absentia. A second was Hermann Goering, who committed suicide in his cell just hours before the executions by taking cyanide poison. The remaining 10 Germans were hanged to death on October 16, 1946.

The following excerpt from the 9^th chapter of Esther. Contains some extremely interesting information:

21 TISHRI (white letters on red background)

The Jewish date “21 Tishri” (kaph-aleph-tav-shin-resh-yod) is encoded at an ELS of 216, beginning in Esther 9:12 and ending in Esther 9:27. This is the date upon which the 10 Nazi war criminals were hanged. Statistically, the odds of this date occurring in this passage by random chance are less than one in 1 million!

 5707 (blue letters on light blue)

Running diagonally through “21 Tishri” is the Jewish year “5707″ (tav-shin-zayin), which corresponds to 1946. This year is found at an ELS of 442, beginning in Esther 9:15 and ending in Esther 9:27. It shares the shin with “Tishri.”

 NAZI (white letters on black)

Beginning underneath “hanged,” the Hebrew transliteration of Nazi (nun-aleph-tsadi-yod) occurs. This word is found at an ELS of -650, beginning in Esther 9:19 and ending in Esther 8:9.

 HANGED (yellow letters on dark green)

On the top left part of the matrix, running vertically, the Hebrew word “hanged” (tav-lamed-vav-yod) appears at an ELS of 432. It begins in Esther 8:6 and ends in Esther 9:3.

 AMALEKITE (yellow letters on black)

Crossing the bottom of “21 Tishri” is the Hebrew word for “Amalekite” (ayin-mem-lamed-koph-yod). This word is found at an ELS of -7, beginning in Esther 9:27 and ending in Esther 9:26. According to Jewish tradition, the nation of Germany is thought to have descended from the biblical Amalekites (Exo. 17:8).

 ARYAN (purple letters on yellow)

Right above the top of “21 Tishri” is the Hebrew word “Aryan” (aleph-resh-yod). It appears at an ELS of 1 in Esther 9:8. Hitler’s objective in eradicating the Jews was to have a pure Aryan race.

 HAMAN (white letters on blue)

At the top of the matrix, at an ELS of 1, the name “Haman” (hey-mem-nun) appears in Esther 8:3.

 TEN (black letters on light blue)

Underneath “Haman,” the Hebrew word “ten” (ayin-shin-resh-hey) appears at an ELS of 1 in Esther 8:12.

 SONS (white letters on maroon)

Underneath “ten,” at an ELS of 20, the Hebrew word “sons” (beth-nun-yod) appears. It begins in Esther 8:15 and ends in Esther 8:16.

 The information in the surface text, as well as that encoded underneath the apparent text, is incredible! Only God, in His infinite power, could have inspired these things to be recorded in the book of Esther and then cause them to come to pass more than 2 millennia later. And the dates only work on the calculated Jewish calendar!

Additional Info Source: http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm?page_name=Bible-Code-Ten-Sons-Haman

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Again, I am not attempting to justify the methodology of the calculated Jewish calendar, I am acknowledging and recognizing that no matter how much other methods appear to line up with scripture, none of the other methods are validated through events! Only the calculated Jewish calendar is validated in such an un-forgeable method.

This undeniable evidence is why we follow the calculated Jewish calendar.

http://awakenedchurch.com/uncategorized/cbb/validating-the-different-calendar-methods

5 Responses [ Author's note: for space only one comment shown]

1.     Bryan Huie

‍‍September 28, 2012 - 12 Tishrei 5773 at 11:08 am

Many think God made a mistake by entrusting His oracles to the Jews (Rom. 3:2). They think THEY need to correct God’s mistake by sighting their own moons and creating their own calendars.

I have been asked numerous times: “By what authority did a man (“Hillel II”) establish the modern Jewish calendar?” The simple answer is that he had the authority given to him by God as the leader of the Sanhedrin. Hillel II was the nasi (“president”) of the Sanhedrin at the time he instituted the calendar in 358/359 CE. As the nasi, he had the divinely granted authority to establish how the calendar would be determined.

 

“Wait just a second,” one might say. “The Jews as a nation rejected Yeshua as Messiah. Therefore, they gave up the authority God had earlier given them!” Sounds like a logical argument, but do the Scriptures support it?

 

At the time of Yeshua’s ministry (and later that of Paul), the Jewish high priest was essentially a Roman political appointment. In his 4th-century Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius wrote:

 

“…When Herod was appointed king by the Romans, he no longer nominated the chief priests from the ancient lineage, but conferred the honor upon certain obscure individuals…. Herod was the first that locked up the sacred vesture of the high priest, and having secured it under his own private seal, no longer permitted the high priests to have it at their disposal. (p. 31, ch. VI, pop. ed.)…”

 

This selection method broke the custom of the high priesthood being attached to the family of Aaron.

 

Herod also abolished the practice of the high priest holding the position for life. According to Josephus, in the 107 years from the beginning of Herod’s reign to the fall of Jerusalem, there were 28 high priests.

The Jewish Talmud records that by the time of Messiah, the high priest bought the office from the government and the position could be changed as frequently as every year. But even after he was out of office, the ex-high priest kept his rights to the dignity of the office. These policies resulted in a group of wealthy Sadducean priestly families (primarily the Boethus, Anan, and Phiabi families) being appointed to the office on a regular basis.

 

Since the high priest was clearly not legitimate according to the guidelines found in the Torah, many assume he was invalid and had no authority. Actually, the Scriptures show just the opposite:

 

JOHN 11:47: Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this man works many signs. [48] If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” [49] And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, [50] nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” [51] Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, (NKJV)

 

Here we see that BECAUSE Caiaphas was the high priest (even though he was illegitimate according to Torah), his pronouncement against Yeshua was not his own, but rather a prophecy given by God through him. Clearly God recognized Caiaphas’ authority as high priest. As Paul tells us, no authority exists apart from God (Rom. 13:1); therefore, Caiaphas’ position WAS from God.

 

Next, let’s look at the later example of Paul testifying before the Sanhedrin:

 

ACTS 23:1 “Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” [2] And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. [3] Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the Law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the Law?”
[4] And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” [5] Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.’” (NKJV)

 

Rather than point out that Ananias was NOT “God’s high priest,” but instead an illegitimate Roman appointee, Paul acknowledges him as a “ruler” of the Jewish people. Even though Ananias’ position was not derived according to Torah, Paul recognized his authority to be from God.

 

Given that background, what are we to make of the following statement by Paul?

 

ROMANS 3:1 “What, then, is the superiority of the Jew? Or what is the advantage of circumcision?
[2] Much in every way! First of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God. [3] What if some of them were faithless? Shall their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? [4] By no means! Let God be true and every man false…

 

Paul here acknowledges that even though many of the Jews at that time were faithless, God continued to honor the position and authority He had earlier given them. It was God who inspired the following acknowledgment of Jewish authority:

 

GENESIS 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him [i.e., Judah] shall be the obedience of the people. (NKJV)

 

PSALM 60:7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver. (NKJV)

 

PSALM 108:8 Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver. (NKJV)

 

The word translated “lawgiver” in Gen. 49:10 and Psa. 60:7 & 108:8 is from the Hebrew root chaqaq. It literally means “to engrave”; by extension, it means “to be a scribe.” Judah is the one who was given the authority to document, record and transmit down through the ages the “oracles” of God.

 

I believe the “oracles” that the Jews were given charge of as the “lawgivers” include the writings we know as the Old Testament. It is in the OT that we find the holy days of YHVH defined. By necessity, the “oracles” would then also include the sacred calendar. Just as we shouldn’t discard the Hebrew Tanakh (OT) and consider a Greek or English version authoritative in its place, we should also not throw out the Hillel II calendar and assume that we can create our own.

 

Those who would remove the authority of the nasi of the Sanhedrin (in this case, Hillel II) to determine the calendar do so without scriptural sanction. Regardless of the faithlessness of the Jews, to usurp that particular power is to deny that God is faithful, and that He can use faithless Jews to do His will.

 

I have had this question arise many times, and I have seen many people claim that THEY have the authority to determine “God’s true sacred calendar.” What always arises from the unlawful exercise of such authority is CONFUSION (1 Cor. 14:33).

 

Groups that determine their own calendars are often days or even a full month different from other groups. Consequently, these groups cannot observe the holy days together, because they aren’t keeping the SAME holy days. What should be a time for holy convocation among God’s people becomes a time of division.

 

Confusion and division are NOT of God, but rather of Satan. One of Satan’s principal problems has always been accepting authority. Even if the current calendar is inaccurate, the blame must be placed on God, who gave this authority to the Jews. Yet where will the blame lie if we reject this authority delegated by God? I believe WE are guilty if we usurp this authority…

 

[END ARTICLE]

                

The above article was written in 2012. The late (and sorely missed) Brian Huie, author of the website at http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm is the only comment I added here, but I can provide the entire article with all five comments should anyone ask. He is right with what he says about Romans 3:

 Romans 3:1-4 (NASB95)

¹ Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ² Great in every respect.

First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

 ³ What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ⁴ May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “That You may be justified in Your words, And prevail when You are judged.”^[vii]

The oracles of God belong to the Jewish People. I bring up the calendar issue only because I believe we must trust those who God has set in place to carry forth His plans. Otherwise, there is much confusion within the Messianic believers, each trying to assert their own authority over God’s ways. This is strange fire, and the result is always bad for those who bring it. Unity is what God wants, not confusion. I believe that those who introduce these “alternate” calendars do so with good intentions, for they desperately seek to follow God and want to do His bidding, but in my humble opinion they are just usurpers, and they encroach upon the sancta of God, by declaring God was wrong to give this authority over to the Jews. Maybe I’m wrong about this – only time will tell… I speak with a fragile breath, and so begins our study.

 

What voice speaks loudest today? I have touched on this before, but we, as believers, must decide what it is that we will listen to. We all know these verses:

 1 Kings 19:9-13 (ESV)

⁹ There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” ¹¹ And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

¹³ And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ^[viii]

Not in the wind, earthquake, or fire was YHVH. He was in the low whisper, the quiet still voice that asks, “What are you doing here?” What are we doing here? With each breath, we move closer to the end, with each breath we can either praise or curse. With each breath, we can speak life, or we pursue death. What is it we do with this fragile breath, a breath that can be taken and silenced by oh so many different things? We argue interpretations, perspectives, law versus grace, grace versus law; we argue and disagree on the name of our Messiah, is it Jesus, Yeshua, Yahushua, Yehoshua, Yahuwah, or any other combination we can come up with. We debate over saying the sacred name of YHVH:  is it Jehovah, Yehovah, Yahweh, Yahveh, HaShem, on and on… We spend our time watching news of the day, and we rail at injustice, politicians, and incompetent, manipulative newscasters yet rarely do we just go still and offer a prayer for the lost, for the hurting, for those who have simply refused to believe that there is a God. The low whisper is drowned out in the background noise, and our fragile breath is wasted on what is unimportant.

 I began this study with the calendar for this reason, that the breath we spend debating this subject is wasted: no man can say what is right. Scripture can be twisted and misread to justify anything under the sun, and there is always someone willing to hear the falsehoods, or the misunderstandings, just if only it fits their own agenda. We open our mouths and a fragile breath escapes, never to return, never to heal, never to bless, never to reconcile another to the God who speaks in the low whisper, never to praise or worship the way it should.

 

Psalm 39³³

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

^39:1 I decided,¹ “I will watch what I say and make sure I do not sin with my tongue.² I will put a muzzle over my mouth while in the presence of an evil man.”^{3 39:2} I was stone silent;⁴ I held back the urge to speak.⁵ My frustration grew;^{6 39:3} my anxiety intensified.⁷ As I thought about it, I became impatient.⁸

Finally, I spoke these words:⁹

^39:4 “O Lord, help me understand my mortality and the brevity of life!¹⁰

Let me realize how quickly my life will pass!^{11 39:5} Look, you make my days short-lived,¹²

and my life span is nothing from your perspective.¹³

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor.¹⁴

^39:6 Surely people go through life as mere ghosts.¹⁵ Surely, they accumulate worthless wealth

without knowing who will eventually haul it away.”^{16 39:7} But now, O Lord, upon what am I relying?

You are my only hope!^{17 39:8} Deliver me from all my sins of rebellion! Do not make me the object of fools’ insults!

^39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth because of what you have done.^{18 39:10} Please stop wounding me!¹⁹

You have almost beaten me to death!^{20 39:11} You severely discipline people for their sins;²¹ like a moth you slowly devour their strength.²² Surely all people are a mere vapor.

(Selah)

^39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cry for help! Do not ignore my sobbing!²³

For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land; I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were.^{24 39:13} Turn your angry gaze away from me, so I can be happy before I pass away.^{25 [ix]}

 

In the above Psalm, the psalmist understands the fragile breath. This breath is as fleeting as the seconds of the day, none of which are guaranteed. It is here we will continue our study in our next post.

 

May the Father richly bless you and keep you all my beloved,

In the name of Yeshua our Messiah

Amein.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[iii] Author’s note: This site is for education only and is not affiliated with any institution, organization, or religious group. It is the sole production of its editor. Use of information from Jewish-themed websites (or any other source material) should not be construed as these sites endorsing or confirming any thesis introduced by the author of this epistle. I present the information from their respective sites for instructional purposes only and/or to aid in the readers understanding of the subjects discussed.

 

[iv] Author’s note:  Throughout this study I may be using the NET Bible® and the NET Notes®: within the notes you will see symbols like this: (א B Ψ 892* 2427 sys). These are abbreviations used by the NET Bible® for identifying the principal manuscript evidence that they (authors and translators of the NET Bible®) used in translating the New Testament. Please go to https://bible.org/netbible/ and see their section labeled “NET Bible Principals of Translation” for a more complete explanation on these symbols and other items pertinent to the way the NET Bible uses them.

 

[v]  Jewish Publication Society. (1997, c1985). Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures : A new translation of the Holy Scriptures according to the traditional Hebrew text. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.

[vi] “This Fragile Breath” by Todd Agnew; from the album “Grace Like Rain” © ℗ 2003 Ardent Records LLC. Released on: 2003-10-07

[vii]  New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

[viii]  The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

 ·         [The following notes are taken from the NET Bible® footnotes, copyright (c) 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press L.L.C. All rights reserved. Used by permission from www.bible.org, n.d. Numbering system is unique to NET® Notes. Scripture quoted by permission; Quotations designated (NET) are from The NET Bible®, Copyright © 2005 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. www.netbible.com All rights reserved^[viii]]

³³  sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.

¹  tn Heb “I said.”

²  tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”

³  sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the Lord (see vv. 4–6), but he hesitated to do so in the presence of evil men, for such words might be sinful if they gave the wicked an occasion to insult God. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 1:345.

⁴  tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

⁵  tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.sn I held back the urge to speak. For a helpful discussion of the relationship (and tension) between silence and complaint in ancient Israelite lamentation, see E. S. Gerstenberger, Psalms, Part I (FOTL), 166–67.

⁶  tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

⁷  tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

⁸  tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).

⁹  tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

¹⁰  tn Heb “Cause me to know, O Lord, my end; and the measure of my days, what it is!”

¹¹  tn Heb “Let me know how transient I am!”

¹²  tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1–50 (WBC), 309.

¹³  tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

¹⁴  tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”

¹⁵  tn Heb “surely, as an image man walks about.” The preposition prefixed to “image” indicates identity here.sn People go through life (Heb “man walks about”). “Walking” is here used as a metaphor for living. The point is that human beings are here today, gone tomorrow. They have no lasting substance and are comparable to mere images or ghosts.

¹⁶  tc Heb “Surely [in] vain they strive, he accumulates and does not know who gathers them.” The MT as it stands is syntactically awkward. The verb forms switch from singular (“walks about”) to plural (“they strive”) and then back to singular (“accumulates and does not know”), even though the subject (generic “man”) remains the same. Furthermore, there is no object for the verb “accumulates” and no plural antecedent for the plural pronoun (“them”) attached to “gathers.” These problems can be removed if one emends the text from הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן‎ (hevel yehemaun, “[in] vain they strive”) to הֶבְלֵי הָמוֹן‎ (hevley hamon, “vain things of wealth”). This assumes a mis-division in the MT and a virtual dittography of vav (ו) between the mem and nun of המון. The present translation follows this emendation.

¹⁷  tn Heb “my hope, for you it [is].”

¹⁸  tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10–13).

¹⁹  tn Heb “remove from upon me your wound.”

²⁰  tn Heb “from the hostility of your hand I have come to an end.”

²¹  tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”

²²  tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ‎ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ‎ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss.

²³  tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”

²⁴  tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”sn Resident aliens were dependent on the mercy and goodwill of others. The Lord was concerned that resident aliens be treated properly. See Deut 24:17–22, Ps 146:9.

²⁵  tn Heb “Gaze away from me and I will smile before I go and am not.” The precise identification of the initial verb form (הָשַׁע‎, hasha’) is uncertain. It could be from the root שָׁעָע‎ (sha’a’, “smear”), but “your eyes” would be the expected object in this case (see Isa 6:10). The verb may be an otherwise unattested Hiphil form of שָׁעָה‎ (sha’ah, “to gaze”) meaning “cause your gaze to be.” Some prefer to emend the form to the Qal שְׁעֵה‎ (shé’eh, “gaze”; see Job 14:6). If one does read a form of the verb “to gaze,” the angry divine “gaze” of discipline would seem to be in view (see vv. 10–11). For a similar expression of this sentiment see Job 10:20–21.

·         End “NET®” notes

^[ix]  Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Ps 39). Biblical Studies Press.