Nasso – Elevate, Lift up.
Paleo Hebrew of the root word, nun samech – the banner of Life Support. The Word of Yeshua, YHWH Nissi (my banner), is my Life Support!
Numbers (B’midbar) 4:21 – 7:89; Judges (Shoftim) 13:2-25; Acts (of the Holy Spirit) 21:17-26
Don’t you just love it when the Spirit of Truth reveals something about the Messiah to you in the ‘Old Testament’? Seeing the Messiah and His Divinity in the Torah and the Haftorah is an incessant passion of mine, something never exhausting, nor boring, but reviving and encouraging to my soul! So darash, dig deep, test everything, and you will find Him in the volume of the Book. For the Scriptures are they which testify of Yeshua!
The Haftorah Connection to Shavuot
Manoah and his wife had an encounter with God that laid them prostrate before Him (Judges 13:20). They had been talking with the Angel of YHWH, Who commanded a Nazarite vow for his wife and his son yet to be born. (Numbers 13:2-14)
By the way, search out and see if a woman can take a Nazarite vow. Here is what the Angel of YWHW told Manoah’s wife:
“And now take heed, and please do not drink wine or fermented drink, and do not eat any unclean thing.” Numbers 13:4
But what about the vow to not cut your hair? Find out for yourself, but I believe it’s because women did not cut their hair in those days. No, I’m not saying it’s law. But the Angel may not have needed to make the no-cut command as He did for the boy Samson.
Is there another Nazarite vow in the Scriptures, where drinking no wine was promised, but nothing was recorded on no razor to the hair? How about when Yeshua said this?
“But I say to you, ‘I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.’”
Matthew 26:29
Is Yeshua under a Nazarite vow now until He returns? We are longing for that day, the marriage supper of the Lamb, when we’ll drink of the fruit of the vine with the Bridegroom.
Adonai Yeshua certainly will return as the Judge to defeat the enemies of Israel, much more so than Judge Samson was empowered to do in his day! What a day that will be!
More Than a Man, More Than an Angel
Manoah and his wife called the Angel of YHWH ‘the Man’ Who had appeared to them. Not knowing Who He was, Manoah came to Him and asked, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” What was the Man’s reply? “I Am.” These are the same words that the Messiah declared to the Jews who questioned Him: Yeshua said to them:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I Am.” John 8:58
Now we are beginning to see common threads with this story and with the Messiah in the Gospels. Next is another thread with Isaiah prophesying of a Child to be born:
Manoah said to the Angel of YHWH, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?” But the Angel of YHWH said to him, “Why do you ask My Name, seeing it is Peliy (Wonderful)?”
Judges 13:17-18
Who else is called “Peliy (Wonderful)” among the prophets?” Go to the Book of Isaiah to find the first thing the Son would be called according to this Messianic prophecy:
For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us; and the government will rest upon His shoulders; and His Name shall be called ‘Wonderful (Pele) Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.’ Isaiah 9:6
The Son prophesied to be born would not only be called ‘Wonderful (Pele),’ but also the ‘Mighty God (El Gibbor)’ – not just any god, He’s called the ‘Mighty God.’ In case it is still not clear to the reader on the Divinity of this Son, He is also called ‘Eternal Father (Avi Ad)’ – not just any father, but the ‘Eternal Father’ of Heaven, YHWH Himself. The Son of God confirmed this by declaring, “I and the Father are One.” John 10:30
For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the Angel of YHWH ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. Now the Angel of YHWH did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of YHWH. So Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God.” Judges 13:20-22
What a revelation! Manoah’s wife told him the Man she saw turned out to be the Angel of YHWH. With great awe, they fell down on their faces before Him. It then dawned on them that this Angel of YHWH was the Mighty God, Elohim Himself! Here’s one of many proofs from the Word that the Man, Angel of YHWH, is no less than the Divine Messiah.
But no man can see the Father YHWH, you may say. YHWH told even Moses:
“But,” He said, “you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live.” Exodus 33:20
However, the same John who wrote:
‘In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’
also wrote:
‘What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life.’ 1 John 1:1
Knowing this, Manoah and his wife thought that they would die for they had seen Elohim. However, Elohim appeared on earth as the prophesied Son, born of a virgin (see Isaiah 7:14 and 9:7 closed mem (womb) in ‘of the increase’), so He could be seen as ‘the Man’. Manoah and his wife did not see the Father, but they saw His visible manifestation, the exact representation of Elohim in the Son. Anyone who tells you that YHWH cannot be a visible Man puts Elohim in a man-made box that He doesn’t have to stay in.
But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. Psalm 115:3
If He wants to show up as a Man, as an Angel, a Lamb or a Lion, as a Rock or a Consuming Fire, or the Tree of Life, He can manifest Himself on earth in any way that He so pleases. He is the Mighty God, Elohim, in plural ways. He can do and will do whatever He wants, anytime He wants to, regardless of man’s theology.
As the Father in the Spirit realm, He cannot be seen by man. But as ‘the Man’ Who humbled Himself and emptied Himself of His inapproachable glory, He can and does want to be seen and heard. That’s His prerogative, not man’s. It’s up to us to find out how He wants to approach us and how we are to approach Him according to His will.
Of course, YHWH will always be true to His Word when He reveals Himself to man. In the story of Manoah and his once barren wife conceived of a son, we see the types and shadows of the Divine Messiah. Then what about the Messiah can we see in the son Samson, born by Manoah and his wife?
Did the Angel of YHWH leave Manoah and his wife for good, never to be seen again?
‘But the Angel did no more appear to Manoah and his wife.’ Judges 13:21
The last they saw of the Angel, He had ascended in the fire of the sacrifice they offered.
Coming back to their senses, they realized they were still alive, even though they had seen God! How could that be? His wife had an astute answer to that question:
And his wife said to him, “If YHWH desired to put us to death, He would not have received a burnt offering and a food offering from our hands; nor made us see all these things, nor would He now have caused us to hear things like these.” Judges 13:23
Manoah and his wife were alive after an encounter with Almighty God for three reasons:
- Yah had received their sacrificial offerings, foreshadowing the cross of Christ.
- Yah wanted for them to see and to hear the Messiah as a Messenger, the Angel.
- Yah had a plan, a purpose for their son to save Israel from their enemies.
Samson, the Sun of Righteousness and the Son of God
Their son’s name Samson, Shimshon in Hebrew, means ‘like the sun.’ Who is this name referring to? What other prophecy is this name connected to?
“But for you who fear My Name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. And you shall tread under the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day which I am preparing,” says YHWH of Host. Malachi 4:2-3
This prophecy sounds so much like Samson who treads down the wicked Philistines to save Israel. The sun is a blazing ball of consuming fire. In one incident, Samson burned down the standing grain, vineyards, and groves of the Philistines by catching and releasing 300 foxes, setting their tails on fire, and sending them into their fields. No coincidence, three hundred is the numerical value for the letter ‘sheen,’ the letter found twice in the name Shimshon (Samson) and twice in Shemesh (sun). The sheen, also the central letter in the Name of Yeshua, reveals the fire of His Spirit inside.
Later in the story, the Philistines bound Samson with ropes, but they were like flax burned by fire because ‘the Spirit of YHWH came upon him mightily’ (Judges 15:14). The supernatural strength of Samson came from the Spirit of YHWH like a consuming fire destroying the enemies of Israel, making them like ‘ashes under his feet’.
There’s nothing new under the sun – the Philistines of Bible times lived in the same location as the ‘Palestinians’ do today – down in Gaza. The ancient war is again waging between Israel in the land and the Philistines on that strip of land along the Great Sea.
“I Will Come To You”
And the Spirit of YHWH began to move him (Samson) in the camp of Dan (the name means a judge) between Zorah and Eshtaol. Judges 13:25
Ahah! So the Messiah, the Angel of YHWH, did show up again in the Haftorah story! This time the Spirit of YHWH was moving on the Nazarite dedicated from birth – Samson.
Where do we see the Spirit of YHWH empowering His people in the Brit Chadashah (NT)? It was after Yeshua had made the vow not to drink of the fruit of the vine again until He returned after Abba had received the sacrificial offering of the Lamb of God on the cross after Yeshua ascended into the clouds, and after He came back by His Spirit.
The agency of Yeshua coming to us today is by His Spirit. There was an appointed time for that. Referring to Shavuot, Yeshua Himself promised to return to His disciples:
“You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” John 14:28
Yeshua promises to come to us Himself in what way today? By His Spirit, the Paraclete.
The Angel ascending in the fire that Manoah and his wife saw was a foreshadowing of the Messiah ascending from His sacrifice after His resurrection into Heaven and going back into the Spirit realm. He does not appear again as a Man to us, but by His Spirit, He baptizes His people with holy fire as on the day of Pentecost with tongues of fire.
“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you… John 16:7
But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. John 16:13,14
It was on the day of Shavuot that He came back by His Spirit to empower His people for the same purposes that He came for in the first place: The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8b. It’s like what Samson had been empowered and commissioned to go do. I know I need the Helper for that!
The work of the Holy Spirit is also to guide us into all truth and to speak to us what Yeshua says. No intellect can figure out and come to know the Truth about Who the Messiah truly is unless you hear from Him and His Word by the indwelling Spirit of Truth
No amount of intellectual debates and persuasive arguments will work. The seeker must receive Yeshua as Lord and Savior and must submit to the Holy Spirit Whom He offers.
The Purpose of Pentecost
Whether it’s on the day of Shavuot, or any other day, my prayer is that our congregation would entreat the Father for the gifts and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. We have a lot of adversity to overcome in these last days. We may not have the supernatural physical strength of a Samson when Yeshua pours out His Spirit, but we sure can tear down false arguments, such as – ‘Yeshua was a man, but not God.’
What warfare do we wage? It’s just as tough as any physical warfare, but by the Helper:
For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful through God for the tearing down of strongholds. We are tearing down false arguments, and every high-minded thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of the Messiah.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
If Yeshua is not my Lord and my God like Thomas found out, then why would I take every thought captive to the obedience of Him? Because Yeshua is Adonai; He is the LORD!
Elohim in the paleo Hebrew means strong like the head of an ox with horns of authority and a Shepherd’s staff that controls and defends the sheep. Abstractly, Elohim is God the Mighty Authority, the Strong Controller.
If Yeshua is not the Mighty Authority over me, who is? My self? My own intellectual powers of reasoning? Some other man who is a religious authority among many followers? Who is the Mighty Authority, the Head to Whom I submit to in life?
I like the old saying – if Jesus is not Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all. He’s coming back as King of kings and Lord of lords. I don’t want to wait to submit and bow my will to Him on the day when:
‘every knee shall bow … and every tongue confess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord (Kurios/YHWH) – to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11
B’rakhot BaShem Yeshua Ha’Melek Yisra’el,
Blessings in the Name of Yeshua, the King of Israel,
David.
David Klug