Bchoo-ko-tai: By My Inscription.

Haftarah: Jeremiah 16:19-17:14 Brit Chadasha: Yochanan (John) 14:15-21; 15:10-12; 5:39 Romans 8:27 1 Yochanan (Entire book) The title of this weeks Torah portion is Bchoo-ko-tai, from the root word chuqqah. The ch sound is pronounced from the back of the throat, commonly heard in many of the middleeastern Semitic dialects. It is identified as Strongs number H2708 the feminine of Strongs number H2706 or chok meaning an enactment, or appointment (of time, space, quantity, labor or usage) an appointed, or convenient custom, ordinance, manner, commandment, or statute. Custom? Covenant? One in the Same? It comes from the root word Strongs# H2710 chaqaq, pronounced khaw-kak' meaning to hack, that is, engrave (Jdg_5:14, to be a scribe simply); by implication to enact (laws being cut in stone or metal tablets in

primitive times) or (generally) prescribe: - appoint, decree, governor, grave, lawgiver, note, print, or set. In studying Strongs #2710 in the Paleo-Hebrew we observe the 2letter root word khaw-kak' The pictograph (chet) is a picture of a wall representing a separation. The (quf) is a picture of the sun at the horizon representing the idea of "coming together". Combined these mean "separation and coming together". A custom brings a people separated together . To inscribe, or a Custom; also the appointment of a specific time, function or duty. As a custom is something that is appointed; or to write a decree or custom (seen translated in the kjv: lawgiver, governor, decree, grave, portray, law, printed, set, note, appoint| {str: 2710}) The Septuagint relates this word to Strongs# 2045 (Jn.5:39, Rom.8:27). Other cognate words in the New Testament reveal it having meanings that reflect that of a ruler (G758), a king (G935), leader (G2233), and also meaning to write (G1125). In fact, the corresponding Renewed Covenant reading of the entire book of 1st John maintains the word grapho no less than ten times, emphasizing the significance of having His Word, His customs and decrees inscribed upon our hearts is the very thing He uses to draw His people from out of the nations and back together and unto Himself. This kind of usage of the word weve typically witnessed as a the word used for custom now has opened up to reveal itself as very dramaticfor it speaks the language of covenant. For HaShem has said And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. (Deu 30:9-10 KJV)

Yeshua prayed in the book of Yochanan chapter 17 that we would be one as He and The Father are one. Yeshua has come to bring the people of YHVH together. And yet we still find the silliest reasons to not hold hands. At times I cannot help but feel like YHVH is sometimes in the role of a patient teacher/parent calling across the open field to all of us. Like rowdy and rambunctious children on the playground weve failed quite miserably to learn that recess was not a time to establish ownership of property, authority on the court, control of the jungle gym, the swings and the monkey bars, but was simply an opportunity to learn what every child is taught from the beginning of school; to play together, to love your classmates, to be kind, to laugh togetherto be together. He has called us to focus on the weightier matters; The simple truthwhich is not to be mistaken as easy either beloved, nevertheless we have been shown is that the truth we have been commanded to walk in brings both blessings and curses. Yeshua, the Living Torah Scroll has echoed it from the beginning. The Shebetthe ScepterThe StaffThe Rod Look at the following verse and tell me based on the paleo reference and John chapter 17 if it now makes even more sense, The scepter (shebet, ,meaning rod, staff, club, scepter, tribe) shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff (chaqaq, meaning: to cut in, inscribe, decree, lawgiverin other words the authority symbolized by the staff) from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Gen 49:10 NAS) Weve known that Shiloh has been a symbolic reference to Messiah, the 3-letter root Shin-Lamed-Heh declares it even; Shin meaning again, Lamed meaning Shepherd, or Shepherds authority by way of the staff, and Heh meaning to reveal pictographically declares The Shepherd is revealed again by way of His Staff. In other words, Hes already come once as the suffering servant and shepherd, but He is coming again, and when He returns He will be clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from

His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." (Rev 19:13-16 NAS) But in Genesis 49:10 we see the word khaw-kak meaning custom, decree, lawgiver, and inscribe is the same word translated as rulers staff. The authority of Messiah is revealed symbolically in the Shepherds Staff as it is His chosen instrument to direct, correct, and protect His flock. Aaron, the first high priest in the Levite priesthood, verified by way of his staff, inscribed with the name of his tribe. And behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. (Heb 9:34 NAS) The inscribed word is said to be between Judahs feet. At the beginning of this Torah portion we read that If we will walkthis is a call to action. God calls us to walk in His Word, implying motion. In the English we have a colloquialism many would agree is a distant cousin. When we say we need to apply lifes lessons, we say were going to put it into shoe-leather. It is a decisive call to action and make no mistake brother Judah has been given charge of the way much of that is going to look because Gods Word has been placed between Judahs feet and given charge of the scepter, the symbol of Gods authority, until Shiloh returns, at which time Messiahs feet will touch down; and He will return this time not as the suffering servant, but as the warrior King, come to destroy the nations that have rejected His call, having refused to walk in it at which point His Shepherds Staff will. An Appeal to Sanity The apple doesnt fall far from the tree they say. They say that because they are us and if we are honest with ourselves then we should see the uncanny resemblance in our cumbersome misguided footfalls and those of our ancestors. Todays religion is styled a la carte. You pick what you prefer,

and tell yourself its good for you because it looks like a vegetablebut you know thats a lie because its been deep-fried in chicken fat and had 800 milligrams of salt added before it even reached your plate. Well-meaning, good salt-of-the-earth folks, folks that will die for The LORD are just as guilty often times of the very same things we are. We assume. We assume that we dont have to follow the commandments; that they really arent for us today, but in truth YHVH continually declares to us IF we will walk in His commandment, THEN He will bless us, provide for us, protect us, keep us healthy and so forth. We would rather die on the vine shouting halleluYah for the blood but remain stiff-necked as ever before we start to put His Word into shoe-leather! Isnt that true now? We would rather sing about clinging to the Ole Rugged Cross than just go ahead and die to ourselves, embrace a resurrected life created by YHVH for us to live, and finally start living the rest of our days as saved men! This is mans predicament isnt it? Well isnt it? We have so many micro-divisions because we prefer to split hairs or condemn someone else so harshly or on the other hand we might be so wishy-washy we dont want to draw the line on anything. Adam and Chava walked in the fear of Adonai. The seed of pride was planted in the hearts of Chava and Adam, and ever since we have been battling whether to walk in the counsel of God, man, or confused how to differentiate between the two! Put the Fear of God in You! In the book of the prophet Jeremiah YHVH says 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant not to turn away from them, but to do them good; I will put fear of me in their hearts, so that they will not leave me. (Jer 32:40 CJB) We read in the book of Hebrews that being moved with a Holy Fear 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence (Holy Fear) prepared an ark for the salvation of his household (Heb 11:7 NAS) He listened to YHVH out of Holy Fear. God told him what was coming and in humility and faithful trusting Noah prepared an Ark of salvation for him and his family and God protected them through the storm. How about you? Are you preparing? Are you allowing your heart to be moved with Holy fear? A heart void of reverence is doomed for the same outcome that happened to Israel when they compromised their Holy Fear.

'Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! (Deu 5:29 NAS)
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Like Trampled Heads of Grain If we obey He is going to make us fruitful, multiply us, and Confirm His Covenant with usbut if we frustrate Him by rejecting walking in His Chukkim and Mitzvot, well now, that right there is a bird of a different color. He says if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that shall waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you shall sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies shall eat it up. (Lev 26:15-16 NAS) The word there used for break in verse 15 is parar and is comprised of a Pey, and two Reshs. The two-letter root is a Pey and one Resh. Pey in the Paleo is a picture of an Open mouth. The Resh is a picture of a mans head. Translated pictographically together they mean open the head and specifically refers to the trampling of grain by a bull on the threshing room floor as the heads of grain are opened and threshed by the bulls. This is what we do when we frustrate YHVH by not walking in His inscribed Word. We essentially trample it making it of no effect, and where it concerns a contract, in this case His Covenant, we are the ones who make it null and void! We trample His word beloved if we soft-pedal Gods truth to a heart yet dull to Him. If we are His priests and a holy nation then we are not only called to be blessed but we are called to serve YHVH. YHVH says 13 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you should not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. (Lev 26:13 NAS) He broke the bars of our yoke so that we should not be their slaves. Whose slaves? Egypts! But now He says because you 18having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Rom 6:18 NAS)
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So what is the route back to restoration? He says if your uncircumcised heart becomes humbleduncircumcised in the Hebrew comes from Strongs# H6188 and is the word arel or aw-rale' and literally means the foreskin is exposed, specifically to be naked. Who else had to stand naked before God before they could be covered by Him again? He called out to Him as if He couldnt see Him, but He already saw and He already knew, He was just giving him a chance to tell the truth. Adam, where are you son? Isnt that like our Heavenly Father? He already sees, already knows, but He leaves a door for us to come back. With a heart of humility we can come back and be restored. Real Humility

Have you ever considered what humility really is? They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Let me show you something my Father drew for you. In the pictographic language of Paleo Hebrew, Humility is revealed to us in the 3-letter root word of the Kaf, the Nun, and the Ayin. Strongs# 3665, it is pronounced kaw-nah', and it means to lower, or to subdue. But when we examine the Paleo we receive much more, so much more. Kaf is an open palm. The Nun is a picture of the seed, and the Ayin, a picture of the eye means to be lowered or a bundle as carrying a bundle or load on the shoulders causes a person to become bent over and lowered. But if we examine the two-letter root word found in the Kaf and the Nun we see a deeper word picture forming. The Kaf means the open hand and the Nun means the seed. Together they mean to stand, to take root, sure, and base. Pictographically translated it means the opening of a seed, and when the seed opensthe roots begin to form the base of the plant by going down into the soil. The plant then can rise out of the ground forming the stalk of the plant because of the strong root system which supports it. The Ayin comes in because it means to know or to observe and to understand. So what are we coming to understand then? It is the fact

that the way we can remain united in right standing covenantal relationship with YHVH by way of humbling ourselves before Him. By doing so He becomes our root that feeds and nurtures us on the land and causes us to thrive and bear fruit! Notice though that it always comes back to the heart? The heart is the mechanism that all of this is possible. It is like the piece of land that YHVHs covenant can flourish and so we have to be sure to tend it, to work the land daily and keep it clear of those things that would choke out Gods ability to establish a strong root system in our lives so that we can thrive. 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. (Rom 11:18 NAS) In the book of Romans Paul is making an appeal to both Jews and non-Jews, emphasizing our focus should not be on what we think we should be entitled to, rather become humble because we dont stand on our own, weve been grafted in and it is He, the Root of Jesse from the line of David, Yeshua the Messiah who supports us and that not of ourselves. And when we consider that none of us are Lone Rangers, that all of us are able to thrive because He supplies our needs, we are all operating with a heart of humility and gratitude and can then become echad, or one because we are now not being prideful, but moving in the spirit of reverence, loving one another as we read in First John three, 16 The way that we have come to know love is through his having laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers! 17 If someone has worldly possessions and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how can he be loving God? 18 Children, let us love not with words and talk, but with actions and in reality! 19 Here is how we will know that we are from the truth and will set our hearts at rest in his presence: (1Jo 3:16-19 CJB) Through the humble heart..moved to action, obeying His inscribed word upon our heart. Let us continue beloved, because this is how YHVH teaches His priesthood how to draw near to Him!