The Great Seventh Month and
The Final Jubilee
Exodus 12 and 13; Ex.23; Leviticus 23; Lev.25:1-28; Deuteronomy 15 and 16
And thou shalt number Seven sabbaths of years unto thee, Seven times Seven years; and the space of the Seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years (49 X 40 = 1960 years).
And thou shalt cause the Trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the Tenth day of the Seventh month, in the Day of Atonement shall ye make the Trumpet sound throughout all your land.
And ye shall hallow the Fiftieth year, and proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every soul unto their possession, and ye shall return every soul unto their family...(Leviticus 25:8-10; Isaiah 61:1-3).
THE BOOK OF JUBILEES
This is the history of the division of the days of the law and the testimony, of the events of the years, of their (year) weeks of their Jubilees throughout all the years of the world, as the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai when he went up to receive the tables of the law of the commandments, according to the Voice of God as he said unto him, "Go up to the top of the Mount."
And it came to pass in the first year of the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt in the Third month, on the Sixteenth day of the month, that God spoke to Moses, saying: "Come up to me on the Mount, and I will give thee Two tables of stone of the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them." And Moses went up into the Mount of God and the glory of the Lord abode on Mount Sinai, and a Cloud overshadowed it Six days. And He called to Moses on the Seventh day out of the midst of the Cloud, and the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a flaming Fire on top of the Mount. (It was like seeing directly into all of the events of the 20th century..see Hebrews 12:13-29). And Moses was on the mount Forty days and Forty nights.
AND GOD TAUGHT HIM THE EARLIER AND THE LATER HISTORY OF THE DIVISION OF ALL THE DAYS OF THE LAW AND OF THE TESTIMONY. And He said: "Incline thine heart to every word which I shall speak to thee on this Mount, and write them in a book in order that their generations may see how I have not forsaken them for all the evil which they have wrought in transgressing the covenant which I have established between Me and thee for their generations this day on Mount Sinai. And thus it will come to pass when all these things come upon them, that they will recognize that I am more righteous than they all in their judgments, and in all their actions, and they will recognize that I have been truly with them.
And do thou write for thyself all these words which I declare unto thee this day, for I know their rebellion and their stiff neck, before I bring them into the land (the whole State of Mind) of which I sware to their fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, saying: 'Unto your seed will I give a land flowing with milk and honey.' AND THEY WILL EAT AND BE SATISFIED, AND THEY WILL TURN TO STRANGE GODS, TO GODS WHICH CANNOT DELIVER THEM FROM AUGHT OF THEIR TRIBULATION: and this witness shall be heard for a witness against them. FOR THEY WILL FORGET ALL MY COMMANDMENTS (EVEN) ALL THAT I HAVE COMMANDED THEM, AND THEY WILL WALK AFTER THE GENTILES, and after their uncleanness, and after their shame, and will serve their gods (their ideas), AND THESE WILL PROVE UNTO THEM AN OFFENSE AND A TRIBULATION AND AN AFFLICTION AND A SNARE. And many will perish and they will be taken captive, and will fall into the hands of the enemy, because they have forsaken My ordinances and My statutes, AND THE FESTIVALS OF MY COVENANT, AND MY SABBATHS, AND MY HOLY PLACE WHICH I HAVE HALLOWED FOR MYSELF IN THE MIDST OF THE LAND, THAT I SHOULD PUT MY NAME UPON IT, AND THAT THEY SHOULD DWELL THERE. And they will make to themselves high places and groves and graven images, and they will worship, each his own (graven image), so as to go astray, AND THEY WILL SACRIFICE THEIR CHILDREN UNTO DEMONS, and to all the works of the error of their hearts. And I will send witnesses unto them, that I may witness against them, BUT THEY WILL NOT HEAR, AND WILL SLAY THE WITNESSES ALSO, AND THEY WILL PERSECUTE THOSE WHO SEEK THE LAW, AND THEY WILL ABROGATE AND CHANGE EVERYTHING SO AS TO WORK EVIL BEFORE MINE EYES. And I will hide My face from them, and I will deliver them into the hands of the Gentiles for captivity and a prey, and for devouring, AND I WILL REMOVE THEM FROM THE MIDST OF THE LAND, and I will scatter them among the Gentiles. AND THEY WILL FORGET ALL MY LAW AND MY COMMANDMENTS AND ALL MY JUDGMENTS, AND WILL GO ASTRAY AS TO NEW MOONS, AND SABBATHS, AND FESTIVALS AND JUBILEES, AND ORDINANCES...
And after this they will turn unto Me from amongst the Gentiles with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength, and I will gather them from amongst the Gentiles, and they will seek Me, so that I shall be found of them, when they seek Me with all their heart and all their soul. And I will disclose unto them abounding peace with righteousness...and they shall be for a blessing and not for a curse, and they shall be the head and not the tail. AND I WILL BUILD MY SANCTUARY IN THEIR MIDST, AND I WILL DWELL WITH THEM, AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE IN TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. And I will not forsake them nor fail them; for I am the Lord their God.
And Moses fell on his face and prayed and said, O Lord my God, do not forsake Thy people and Thy inheritance, so that they should wander in the error of their hearts, and do not deliver them into the hands of their enemies, the Gentiles, lest they should rule over them and cause them to sin against Thee. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be lifted up upon Thy people, and create in them an upright spirit, and let not the spirit of Beliar rule over them to accuse them before Thee, and to ensnare them from all the paths of righteousness, so that they may perish before Thy face. But they are Thy people and Thy inheritance, which Thou hast delivered with Thy great Power from the hands of the Egyptians: create in them a clean heart and a holy spirit, and let them not be ensnared in their sins from henceforth until eternity. And the Lord said unto Moses: I know their contrariness and their thoughts, and their stiffneckedness, AND THEY WILL NOT BE OBEDIENT TILL THEY CONFESS THEIR OWN SIN AND THE SIN OF THEIR FATHERS. And after this they will return to me in all uprightness and with all their heart and with all their soul, and I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed, and I will create in them a holy spirit, and I will cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from Me from that day unto eternity. And their souls will cleave to Me and to all My commandments, and they will fulfill My commandments, and I will be their Father and they shall be my children...The Book of Jubilees 1.1-25.
There are 120 Jubilees from the time of Adam to our own: Forty jubilees from the time of Adam to the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Forty jubilees from that time until the time of Christ; and then Forty jubilees from the time of Christ to our time. From Passover in the East, to Shavout (or Pentecost above), count 49; and then keep counting. Count 49 years, forty times. This great epic of time culminates in the events of the Seventh Month of the Great Solar-Lunar Year, as it is also written: And when the day of Pentecost was FULLY come. (Acts 2:1-21; Joel 2:27-32).
Therefore it is ordained and written in the heavenly tablets that they should observe the feast of Shavout in this month, once per year, in order to renew the covenant in all respects, year by year. And all of this feast was celebrated in heaven from the day of creation until the days of Noah, twenty six jubilees and five weeks of years (1,309 years from the time of Adam...until the floods--the Atlantean Wars--came). And Noah and his children kept it for seven jubilees and one week of years (350 more years) until the day of the death of Noah. And from the day of the death of Noah, his sons corrupted it until the days of Abraham, and they ate blood. But Abraham alone kept it. And Isaac and Jacob and his sons kept it until your days, but in your days the children of Israel forgot it until you renewed it for them on this mountain.
And you commanded the children of Israel so THAT THEY MAY KEEP THIS FEAST IN ALL THEIR GENERATIONS AS A COMMANDMENT TO THEM. One day per year in this month shall they celebrate the feast, for it is the feast of Shavout AND IT IS THE FEAST OF THE FIRSTFRUITS...
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from Above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, THAT WE SHOULD BE A KIND OF FIRSTFRUITS OF HIS CREATURES...(James 1:17,18).
This feast is twofold and of two natures. Just as it is written and engraved concerning it, observe it. This is because I have written it in the book of the First Law, which I wrote for you, so that you might observe it in each of its appointed times, one day per year. And I have told you its sacrificial offering so that the children of Israel might remember them and observe them in their generation in this month one day each year....
Equinoxes and Solstices...A Great Solar Cross
AND on the first day of the FIRST MONTH and on the first day of the FOURTH MONTH and on the first day of the SEVENTH MONTH and on the first day of the TENTH MONTH are the days of remembrance and they are the days of appointed times in the Four Parts of the year. THEY ARE WRITTEN AND INSCRIBED AS AN ETERNAL WITNESS. And Noah ordained them for himself as feasts for eternal generations because they were a memorial for him. And on the first day of the First Month, he was told to make AN ARK...
(Please see Chapter 4 for a description of the ark)
And on it the land dried up, and he opened up and saw the land. And on the first of the Fourth Month, the mouth of the deeps of the abyss which were beneath were shut. And on the first of the Seventh Month, all the mouths of the depths of the earth were opened, and the water began to go down into them. On the first of the Tenth Month the heads of the mountains appeared, and Noah rejoiced. And therefore he ordained them for himself as feasts of remembrance forever, and thus they are ordained. And they set them upon the heavenly tablets. Each one of them is Thirteen weeks from one to another of the remembrances, from the First to the Second, and from the Second to the Third, and from the Third to the Fourth. And all the days which will be commanded will be Fifty Two Weeks of Days, AND ALL OF THEM ARE A COMPLETE YEAR. Thus it is engraved and ordained on the heavenly tablets, and there is no transgressing in a single year, from year to year.
THE DANGER IN FAILING TO OBSERVE A 364-DAY (Solar) CALENDAR
And you commanded the children of Israel so that they should guard the years in this number, Three Hundred and Sixty Four days, and it will be a complete year. AND NO ONE SHALL CORRUPT ITS (APPOINTED) TIME FROM ITS DAYS OR FROM ITS FEASTS BECAUSE ALL (OF THE APPOINTED TIMES) WILL ARRIVE IN THEM ACCORDING TO THEIR TESTIMONY, and they will not pass over a day, and they will not corrupt a feast. BUT IF THEY ARE TRANSGRESSED, AND THEY DO NOT OBSERVE THEM ACCORDING TO HIS COMMANDMENT, THEN THEY WILL CORRUPT ALL OF THEIR FIXED TIMES, AND THE YEARS WILL BE MOVED FROM WITHIN THIS (ORDER), AND THEY WILL TRANSGRESS THEIR ORDINANCES. And all of the sons of Israel will forget, and they will not find the way of the years. And they will forget the New Moons and (appointed) times and sabbaths. AND THEY WILL SET AWRY ALL OF THE ORDINANCES OF THE YEARS. For I know and henceforth I shall make you know...because the book is written before me and is ordained in the heavenly tablet of the division of days, LEST THEY FORGET THE FEASTS OF THE COVENANT AND WALK IN THE FEASTS OF THE GENTILES (Such as the Fourth of July), AFTER THEIR ERRORS AND AFTER THEIR IGNORANCE.
And there will be those who examine the Moon diligently because it will corrupt the (appointed) times and it will advance from year to year Ten days. Therefore the years will come to them as they corrupt and they will make a day of testimony a reproach and a profane day a festival, and they will mix everything up, a holy day (as) profaned and a profane (one) for a holy day (and this does not refer to Christ-Mas, or the observances of Equinoxes and Solstices, but the holidays of the nations themselves, which are all out of accord with the higher precepts of the Torah--with the pathways of history and its appointed times--and most particularly the two Zionists nations--America which was born TOO SOON, and that Israel over there in the East which went BACKWARDS), because they will set awry the months and sabbaths and feasts and jubilees. Therefore I shall command you and I shall bear witness to you so that you may bear witness to them because after you have died your sons will be corrupted so that they will not make a year only Three Hundred and Sixty Four days (plus one extra day every four years to keep all the times and seasons in place). And therefore they will set awry the months and the (appointed) times and the Sabbaths and the feast, and they will eat all of the blood with all flesh. The Book of Jubilees 6:17-38.
THE SEVENTH MONTH
The First Day...Rosh Hashanah...The New Moon...Leviticus 23:24,25.
Rosh Hashanah commemorates the birthday of--the world...So said the rabbis, in the Talmud and the Midrash, who held that Rosh Hashanah celebrates the anniversary of creation itself.
Rosh Hashanah begins the Ten Days of Penitence (also known as the Days of Awe) which end with the most solemn of religious days in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. During these days of penitence and prayer, all mankind presumably passes before the Heavenly Throne, and God looks into their deeds and hearts. Judgment will be passed on Yom Kippur, the devout aver, but "prayer, penitence, and charity may avert the evil decree."
The dominant and recurring theme throughout Rosh Hashanah...is the sovereignty of God. The Shofar (Ram's horn...look into the East) is blown several times, in a prescribed pattern of notes, the first to celebrate God's kinship, the second to stress the role of the individual, the third to remind the congregation of all the events associated with the blowing of the Ram's horn (Joel, chapters 2 and 3, KJV)...
Rosh Hashanah, like all Jewish holidays, is determined by the (Intercalated) Lunar calendar, and is observed in the Fall of the year. Leo Rosten, The Joys of Yiddish, p.310.
Blow the trumpet in the New Moon, in the time appointed on our Solemn Feast Day...(Psalm 81:3).
He hath appointed the Moon for seasons and the Sun knoweth his (own) going down...(Psalm 104:19).
And Isaac said, Run, and lay hold on them, each according to his strength, and to him that seizeth them will the Sun and Moon belong. And Levi laid hold of the Sun and Judah seized the Moon...(The Testament of Naphtali 2:1-4).
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And now my children obey Levi and Judah, and be not lifted up against these two tribes, for from them shall arise unto you the salvation of God. The Lord shall raise up from Levi as it were a high priest. And from Judah as it were a king. He shall save all the Gentiles and the race of Israel. (See Romans 11:25,26)...(Testament of Simeon 3:10,11).
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And there shall arise unto you from the tribe of Judah and of Levi the salvation of the Lord, and he shall make war against Belial...
And the saints shall rest in Eden, AND IN NEW JERUSALEM SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS REJOICE unto the glory of God forever...(Testament of Dan 2:10-12).
And he hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever...(Revelation 1:6).
And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers of streams of water in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
Moreover the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun shall be Sevenfold, as the light of Seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound...(Isaiah 30:25,26).
The Third Day (among Orthodox Jewery)...Fast for the Murder of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shapan. These found the books and knew the import of the law (2 Kings 22:12,14; 2 Chron.34:20). Gedaliah knew the Place. It is not in the Middle East (2 Kings 25:22-25; Jer.39:14; 40:5-41).
The Seventh Day...A Fast on account of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32)...And, of course, Jeroboam's Golden Calves.
The Tenth Day of the Seventh Month...THE DAY OF ATONEMENT...Leviticus 23:27-32; Num.29:7-11).
(We see now why the Creator set the Day of Atonement in the Seventh month of the year, and then linked the Great Jubilee to the Day of Atonement, because in the Great Year both must be observed together--here at the Western ends of the earth, in the fulness of these times):
And thou shalt number Seven sabbaths of years unto thee, Seven times Seven years, and the space of the Seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee Forty and Nine years.
Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of Jubilee to sound on the Tenth Day of the Seventh Month, in the Day of Atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
And ye shall hallow the Fiftieth year, and PROCLAIM LIBERTY throughout all all the land unto all he inhabitants thereof: it shall be a Jubilee unto you, and ye shall return every soul unto its possession, and ye shall return every person unto their family...(Leviticus 25:8-10).
THE LAST JUBILEE: A SERMON
(Melchizedek Texts...The Dead Sea Scriptures)
1...I take my text from the law of the Jubilee. In the year of the jubilee we read, you shall return, everyone of you, to his patrimony (Lev.25:13).
2-3...This is of a piece with the commandment concerning the Period of Remission. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE PERIOD OF REMISSION, SAYS THE SCRIPTURE, IS THAT ANYONE WHO HAS MADE A LOAN TO HIS NEIGHBOR IS THEN NOT TO EXACT PAYMENT OF IT FROM THAT NEIGHBOR OR KINSMAN, SEEING THAT A PERIOD OF REMISSION HAS BEEN DECLARED BY GOD. (Deut.15:2).
4...AS APPLIED TO THE LAST DAYS, THIS REFERS TO THE LIBERATION of those IN CAPTIVITY, CONSONANT WITH THE WORDS OF ISAIAH: The lord has sent me to proclaim liberation to captives (Isaiah 61:1). Since to the (Hebrew) word for "liberation" is homonymous with one meaning "swallow"--which is, of course, a celestial creature--THIS SIGNIFIES THAT THEY WILL BECOME ONE WITH THE SONS (AND DAUGHTERS) OF HEAVEN.
5...The same may be expressed ALSO by saying that (THEY WILL PARTAKE) OF THE INHERITANCE OF MELCHIZEDEK. Melchizedek, you will recall, was "a priest of God Most High" who pronounced the blessing of God over our father Abraham (Gen.14:18-20). Now, the "inheritance" of a priest is, as we learn from the Scriptures, the Lord God Himself, and since the God of Melchizedek is expressly described as "owner of heaven and earth," the meaning is that Abraham will thenceforth have a stake in the things both of heaven on high and of the earth below. Moreover, since the priesthood in Israel and that of Melchizedek himself are said in the Scripture to be eternal (cf. Num.25.13; Ps.110.4), it is not only to Abraham but also to his offspring that this privilege is vouchsafed. (See Galatians 3:16-29); they will be linked to God in an everlasting covenant (cf. Gen.17:7, 19, etc) and the Lord Himself will be their inheritance and patrimony (cf. Ezek.44:28).
6...At the final Jubilee, therefore, GOD WILL IN FACT BE RESTORING THEM TO what is rightfully theirs; they will indeed "return, every one, to his patrimony."
7-8...ALL THIS WILL HAPPEN IN THE FINAL "WEEK" OF A SERIES OF YEARS INVOLVING NINE PRECEDING JUBILEES. (A period involving the last Ten Jubilees last Four Hundred and Ninety years--of the Forty Jubilees of years that have transpired from the time of Christ to our own time). WHEN, THEREFORE, THE SCRIPTURE SPEAKS OF A DAY OF ATONEMENT to be observed in the Seventh month, on the Tenth day of the month (Lev.25:9), WHAT IS MEANT, in an eschatological sense, is that this final jubilee will be marked BY A DAY ON WHICH ALL THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT AND ALL WHO HAVE CAST THEIR LOT WITH (THE CAUSE OF) RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL ACHIEVE FORGIVENESS FOR THEIR SINS, (WHEREAS THE WICKED WILL REAP THEIR DESERTS AND BE BROUGHT TO AN END).
9-10...This is the era which Isaiah terms The Year of Favor (Isa.61:12) that is, the one designed, by God's favor, for the King of Righteousness--which is what...his very name, MELCHIZEDEK prefigures--to come into his dominion (HE WILL TAKE THE LEAD AMONG GOD'S HEAVENLY SAINTS IN EXECUTING THE VARIOUS SENTENCES OF JUDGMENT, even as it is said in the Songs of David: God has taken His stand in the council divine, among the beings divine, to render judgment (Ps.82:1)...
12-14...THERE IS A FURTHER REFERENCE TO THIS FINAL JUDGMENT IN THE CONTINUATION OF THE VERSE FROM THE PSALTER. How long, we read, will you go judging unjustly and showing partiality to the wicked? (Ps.7.9). THE ALLUSION IS TO BELIAL AND THE SPIRITS OF HIS ILK--THAT IS, TO (elders who sit in assizes but) DEFY GOD'S STATUTES IN ORDER TO PERVERT JUSTICE. The future King of Righteousness (Melchizedek redivivus) WILL EXECUTE (upon them) GOD'S AVENGING JUDGMENT, and at the same time DELIVER (the Just) FROM THE HANDS OF BELIAL...WITH ALL THE ANGELS (OF RIGHTEOUSNESS) AT HIS AID, HE WILL BLAST THE COUNCIL OF BELIAL (TO DESTRUCTION)
15-16...THE VISITATION OF WHICH I HAVE BEEN SPEAKING IS THE SAME AS THE DAY OF RETRIBUTION OF WHICH THE PROPHET ISAIAH SPEAKS IN THE WORDS: How fair upon the mountains are THE FEET of the herald who proclaims "Shalom! (peace)," the herald of good tidings who proclaims "Salvation!" who says to Zion, 'Your God has now claimed His kingdom!' (Isaiah 52:7), for the word shalom may also be read shillum, "retribution," as who should say, "All is hell!" rather than "All is well!"
17-21...THE MOUNTAINS in that passage STAND FOR THE PROPHETS, AND THE FEET FOR THEIR WORDS, WHEREBY THEY BRING THEIR MESSAGE TO ALL WHO ARE WILLING TO LISTEN, WHILE THE HERALD is he who is elsewhere described AS THE ONE ANOINTED WITH THE SPIRIT (Isa.61:1)--THE SAME WHOM DANIEL CALLS THE ANOINTED LEADER WHO WILL MAKE AN APPEARANCE AT THE END OF SEVEN WEEKS (OF YEARS)--THAT IS, AT THE FINAL JUBILEE. SIMILARLY, THE HERALD OF GOOD THINGS, THE SAME WHO PROCLAIMS (SHALOM) IS HE OF WHOM IT IS WRITTEN: The Lord has sent me to comfort all who mourn...(Isa.61:3)...THE COMFORT IN QUESTION WILL CONSIST IN GIVING THEM A TRUE OVER-ALL VIEW OF THE SUCCESSIVE ERAS OF HISTORY (OF THE WORLD), IN THEIR RESPECTIVE TIMES.
22-25...AT THAT TIME IT WILL BE FROM BELIAL, NOT FROM GOD, THAT MEN WILL TURN AWAY IN REBELLION, AND THERE WILL BE A RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REIGN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, PERVERSITY BEING CONFOUNDED BY THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD. THIS IS WHAT SCRIPTURE IMPLIES IN THE WORDS, Who says to Zion, Your God has now claimed His kingdom! (Isa.52:7), THE TERM ZION THERE DENOTING THE TOTAL CONGREGATION OF THE SONS (AND DAUGHTERS) OF RIGHTEOUSNESS--THAT IS, THOSE WHO MAINTAIN THE COVENANT AND TURN AWAY FROM THE POPULAR TREND; AND YOUR GOD SIGNIFYING THE KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, ALIAS MELCHIZEDEK REDIVIVUS, WHO WILL DESTROY BELIAL
OUR TEXT SPEAKS ALSO OF SOUNDING A LOUD TRUMPET BLAST THROUGHOUT THE LAND ON THE TENTH DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH (Lev.25:9). AS APPLIED TO THE LAST DAYS, THIS REFERS TO THE FANFARE WHICH WILL THEN BE SOUNDED BEFORE THE MESSIANIC KING. The Dead Sea Scriptures, by Theodor H. Gaster, pp.433-436.
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On the Day of Atonement the high priest enters the Holy of Holies (Leviticus, chapter 16)...He has been officiating in the temple Seven days, in preparation, sprinkling the blood, offering the Daily Sacrifice, lighting the Menorah (Exodus 30:1-10).
The Fifteenth Day...The Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths (Sukkot)...Leviticus 23:34-36; Deuteronomy 16:13.
On the FIFTEENTH day (at the time of Seventh and Eighth sefirot on the Tree of Life)...there shall be a holy convocation. Thou shalt do no servile work therein.
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And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast...(Hosea 12:9).
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And when the dragon (the spirit of Antichrist) saw that he was cast unto the earth (exposed), he persecuted the Woman which brought forth the Child.
And to the Woman were given Two wings of a great Eagle, that she might flee into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent...(Revelation 12:13,14).
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Also in the Fifteenth day of the Seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the First day shall be a sabbath, and on the Eighth day shall be a Sabbath.
And ye shall take you on the first day THE BOUGHS OF GOODLY TREES, BRANCHES OF PALM TREES, AND THE BOUGHS OF THICK TREES, AND WILLOWS OF THE BROOK; AND YE SHALL REJOICE BEFORE THE LORD YOUR GOD SEVEN DAYS...(Lev.23:39,40).
THE FOUR KINDS
GOODLY TREES...Know them by their fruits...(Matthew 7:15-21; Galatians 5; Isaiah 61:3).
(When God shakes the World Tree all the dead and unfruitful branches that fall out of it, must remain out of it, forever...Numbers 15:32-36; Isaiah 2:12-22, Revelation 6:12-17).
PALM TREES...Israel has come again to the walls of Jericho...(Deuteronomy 34:3; Joshua, chapters 5 and 6; Jeremiah 50:14,15).
THICK TREES...And now the axe is laid to the Root of the Trees, every Tree that bringeth forth not good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire...(Matthew 3:10). Who may stand when he appeareth?... (Malachi 3:1,2).
WILLOWS OF THE BROOK...Gathered by the water's edge...(Psalm 137).
SH'MINI ATZERET...Some translate this as the Eighth Day of Completion, others the Eighth Day of Assembly. For atzeret means putting a boundary, restraining, collecting--either the days (and so, completion of the festival) or the people (and so, assembly of the multitude).
We can understand the restraint as inward too. While the Temple stood, we turned from the expansive week of the multiple sacrifices of Sukkot to the minimum: one bull, one ram. The Talmud teaches that this reduction of the sacrifices from 70 bulls to one, represents God's turning from the concern with the 70 nations--the whole world--to concern for Israel alone. (Understand Romans 11:25,26)...
And finally SIMCHAT' TORAH...Rejoicing In The Law...The End of the Law, and the Beginning of the Law again.
Sh'mini Atzeret teaches us to put seeds of Yod, of new life, quietly underground, there to hibernate until spring. But it is hard to wait. We need some proof of our new life now. So Sh'mini Atzeret also carries within itself the proof of the flowering. On the second day of the festival we turn from the natural world to the Torah--AND BEHOLD, ITS END LEADS AT ONCE TO ITS BEGINNING!
About ten centuries ago, the second day of Sh'mini Atzeret was turned into Simchat Torah--a special holy day of joy in the Torah. It celebrates the completion of the annual cycle for reading the Torah--the Five Books of Moses--and it is when we start afresh (but this time in righteousness and truth, in mercy and in Peace)...But there is more the content of this end and this beginning underscore the lesson. For at the end of the Five Books is the death of Moses our Teacher; and at the beginning is the Creation of the World. So Simchat Torah acts out by public proclamation what Sh'mini Atzeret preaches as an underlying fact of life: THAT FROM SEEMING DEATH COMES PROFOUND NEW ENERGY FOR BIRTH.
The Seven hakkafot (or circlings of the synagogue with the Torah Scroll) provided Kabbalists with an opportunity to see in Simchat Torah a microcosm and a unification of the Seven days of Sukkot...On Simchat Torah, these seven turn into the Seven circlings of the Torah. And since these circlings take place not on seven different days but within One day, Simchat Torah is the time when the Seven (lower) Sephirot fuse into Unity, and show that they are in fact emanations of the Holy One...
When this congregation-wide reaffirmation of the Torah has been fulfilled, the community focuses itself around two highly respected members--one who is called up as chatan Torah or kallat Torah--bridegroom or bride of the Torah--to complete the reading, from Deuteronomy 33:27 to the end; and the other as chatan B'reshit or kallat B'reshit, bridegroom or bride of :In the Beginning," to begin reading all over again. In some congregations, the Torah scroll is unrolled the whole way and held by the congregants in a huge circle around the room. Thus the end and the beginning stand next to each other...and the congregation is encircled not only figuratively but literally--letter by letter--by the Torah...
"BLESSED ARE YOU, THE SHIELD OF ABRAHAM. You are mighty forever, Lord; You revive the dead and are great in saving Power." The reader then chants a prayer poem by Eleazar Kalir that is presumably a plea for rain, but in fact asks some Thirty times not for rain, BUT FOR WATER. In a way this prayer brings all the water imagery of the Tishri festivals to a flood of meaning, for it reminds us of all the adventures our forebears had with wells and seas and rivers.
The prayer can be sung in English to the tune of :Cool Clear Water," and the translation of David de Sola Pool:
And finally the prayer comes to a climax
For you are the Lord our God, who makes the wind blow and the rain fall--for blessing and not for disaster; for life and not for death; for plenty and not for famine.
From this point on...until the first day of Pesach (Passover again), the congregations mentions that God is the One who makes the wind blow and the rain fall. Once we experience the pleading of this prayer, the Sukkot water pouring takes on a deeper quality. Perhaps it was intended not to coerce nature, but to free the people from their own dryness so that they could one week later plead with God. It is to be our prayers that water heaven, not the water poured upon the ground.
Why is the prayer for rain introduced into the blessing that praises God for reviving the dead? Because rain revives the parched and deadened earth, gives life to seeds that are buried underground. And so Sh'mini Atzeret ends, WE LOOK ONCE MORE TO THE GREAT REVIVAL.
In the afternoon, although Sukkot is over and it is no longer a mitzvah to eat in the sukkah, the traditional custom was to eat there anyway one last time, as a gesture of love and respect, and on leaving to say: "JUST AS I MERITED TO SIT IN THE SUKKAH, MAY IT BE YOUR WILL THAT NEXT YEAR I MERIT TO SIT IN THAT SUKKAH MADE FROM THE SKIN OF LEVIATHAN. NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM. For when Messiah comes, according to folk legend, God will turn leatherworker (as at the end of Eden when God made leather garments for Adam and Eve). God will at last slay the primeval sea monster Leviathan, and from its skin will tailor the Great Sukkah that enfolds all Israel in peace. Under that sukkah we will all sit, to dine on Leviathan's meat. No longer will we need to fear a monster from the deep--the ocean deep, or the depths of our own souls. Seasons of Our Joy, by Arthur Waskow, pp.67-85.
Isaiah 27 to 29; Ezekiel 16 (KJV).
The Jubilee:
