Alrighty, today, we’re finally gonna finish up our review of the 12 districts.
Since yesterday’s quiz style of learning was a lot of fun, let’s do it again.
So here we go with the questions.
QUESTION 1:
“What is significant about the 10th district represented by the tribal territory of Issachar?”
QUESTION 2:
“What is significant about the 11th district represented by the tribal territory of Benjamin?”
QUESTION 3:
“What is significant about the 12th district, represented by the tribal territory of Gilead?
So, same as yesterday, grab a pen and a piece of paper, and write out your answers.
Did you do it?
Alright, assuming that a couple of minutes have passed…
And you’ve taken some time to seriously engage with this post…
Instead of mindlessly scrolling through it, which is what 99% of the population does.
Here are the answers:
ANSWER 1:
The territory of Issachar was strongly connected to one of the most famous battlefields in the entire Bible: the Valley of Jezreel.
This was the same region where…
Deborah and Barak defeated Sisera and the Canaanite army…
Gideon later fought the Midianites…
And where King Saul died nearby on Mount Gilboa.
So Issachar is a region loaded with Biblical history and military importance.
But Issachar also became famous for wisdom.
In 1 Chronicles, the men of Issachar are praised as men “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”
I dunno about you, homie, but that’s one of the coolest compliments any tribe ever received in Scripture.
So this 10th district was known not only for fertile farmland and wealth, but also for strategic importance and discernment.
The area also included the town of Jezreel and stretched eastward towards the Jordan River valley.
Alrighty, let’s move on to…
ANSWER 2:
This one is probably a lot easier to answer than any of the other districts.
So let’s start with the obvious.
Benjamin was the tribe of Israel’s first king: Saul
That alone makes this district historically massive.
This territory included places deeply connected to Saul’s life and reign, such as Gibeah, his hometown.
So when Solomon placed one of his own governors over Benjamin, it symbolized something important:
The old house of Saul had now been fully absorbed into the kingdom ruled by David’s dynasty.
In other words, the civil war tensions that once existed between Saul’s and David’s supporters had largely healed.
But Benjamin is also connected to another famous figure I know a lot of you homies are familiar with:
Paul the Apostle…
Or…
Rabbi Shaul, if you attend a Messianic congregation.
In his writings, Paul proudly identified himself as “the tribe of Benjamin”…
And called himself the “Israelite of Israelites.”
So this small tribe produced both Israel’s first king and one of the most influential apostles in the history of mankind.
Pretty amazing legacy for such a tiny tribal territory, don’t you think?
Oh, and by the way, notice verse 18 says this district was run by a dude named Shimei.
Obviously, this was a different guy from the bitter old man who cursed David, and who Solomon later put to death.
Shimei was actually a common name in that tribe.
Alrighty, onward.
Finally, last but not least, let’s proceed to…
ANSWER 3:
Gilead was famous as the territory conquered from the two mighty Amorite kings Sihon and Og.
Og especially stood out because he was considered one of the last giants of the ancient world.
His massive iron bedstead is specifically mentioned in Deuteronomy, almost like a trophy of victory.
So Gilead represented one of Israel’s earliest and most dramatic triumphs under Moses.
But Gilead is probably most famous for being associated with Elijah.
That’s right.
Elijah the Tishbite came from Gilead.
This rugged wilderness territory produced one of the boldest prophets in the Bible.
This was a man who confronted kings, called down fire from heaven, and challenged the prophets of Baal.
Since Gilead was frontier land, the harsh environment seems most befitting for the birthplace of a prophet like Elijah.
I’m so looking forward to studying this great prophet’s exploits.
Alrighty, let’s wrap this baby up.
Finally, geographically speaking, since the only territory left to assign was the southern Trans-Jordan area and possibly parts connected to Judah, Gilead here is most likely referring to the southern regions belonging to Gad, including territory once occupied by Reuben.
And since the text also mentions the lands of Sihon and Og, we can be confident this entire district was located east of the Jordan River.
In other words, as I just said, we’re dealing with Israel’s rugged frontier territory beyond the Jordan (not Judah).
Done.
Torah Stands Unique as the Sinai revelation.
Only the 12 tribes of Israel accept the God of Sinai. Which God does Hebrews 3:4 refer to – Zeus or Saturn? The Gods of India or Japan or China? The theology of Monotheism, a pie in the sky Creed developed by both Xtianity and Islam Universal God in Heaven – Faiths; just as these two despise the Gods worshipped by the other, so too and how much more so – both despise the God of Sinai which these av tuma avoda zarah religious belief systems fundamentally reject; never once the שם השם in either the Xtian Bible or Arab/Muslim Koran.
The NT manuscripts employ Theos (θεός), a Greek noun with a long history of referring to Zeus, the gods of Olympus, and later the philosophical “First Cause.” The phrase “builder of all things” echoes: Plato’s Demiurge; Stoic Logos; Hellenistic monotheism (a universal cosmic deity). A Hellenistic philosophical “God” that emerged after Alexander’s conquests, a universalized abstraction that absorbed Greek metaphysics and Near Eastern motifs. A universal deity that Xtianity and Islam later adopted — a deity fundamentally incompatible with the Sinai revelation. Hebrews 3:4 is a perfect example of this: It uses Theos, a Greek word with no brit authority. The Pauline faith = belief in a divine human sacrifice.
Any translation of the שם השם to any word = the Sin of the Golden Calf wherein the ערב רב translated the שם השם to the word אלהים. The Sinai revelation – a local tribal god worshipped privately by Avraham, Yitzak and Yaacov. Monotheism promotes belief in some Universal GOD of all mankind. The Creation story serves as the Model introduction of wisdom commandments\time-oriented mitzvot – such as later brit melah, the Gid Hanasheh, Yivum – forbidden to marry two sisters at once b/c it provokes jealously.
YHWH an English transliteration of Hebrew letters רוח הקודש, does not equal word translations: such as Allah or Lord or YHWH. Neither the Catholic Bible nor any Protestant Bible writes YHWH. Proof its a much later nonsense. Forbidden to pronounce שם השם, because in doing so a person perverts this Spirit unto into a word – which the lips can pronounce! Akin to comparing the שם השם to anything in the Heavens Earth or Seas. All Torah commandments absolutely dependent upon the 1st Sinai commandment. Neither the Xtian bible nor the Arab/Muslim Koran ever once accepted the first two Sinai commandments which all other Torah commandment hinge upon.
Never a “Decalogue”. Confusion on this fact: a טיפש פשט on par with a literal reading of the Creation story as history. Torah commands mussar, it emphatically does not teach history. Both av tuma religions, worship physical history in that both absolutely require a physical JeZeus and Muhammad. The Pesach story teaches the mussar of Yovel as the יסוד of doing wisdom commandments through the לשמה k’vanna. Hence the first act of Israel upon entering the land brit melah and Yovel as expressed by the establishment of the 6 Small Sanhedrin courts in the Cities of Refuge! No Yovel No Torah common law. Just that simple.
Neither av tumah avoda zara religion even once discerns between בראשית – ברית אש — brit understood as an oath alliance based upon the consequent of the floods in the days of Noach wherein that generation swore אש false oaths. Covenant does not even hint, much less imply swearing a Torah oath. The latter follows the distinction which separates the kre’a shma blessing from Tehillem praises. Blessings as תולדות to brit oaths, hence kre’a shma requires either standing before a Sefer Torah or sitting after placing tefillen. Tefillen like unto a Sefer Torah in the matter of swearing a Torah oath/brit.
NT writers, for example the Apostle Paul confused the “sign” of the brit for the actual oath brit itself. The actual Torah brit – wisdom commandments/time-oriented mitzvot first introduced through the Creation story itself. The rainbow like melah the sign of wisdom commandments/time-oriented mitzvot. Paul’s avoda zara negated brit melah as the “sign” of the brit of wisdom commandment observance!
Pauline theology perverts “faith” away from judicial justice in the land of Canaan unto faith in JeZeus as God – which later morphed into the Trinity dogma creed established at Nicene in 325CE! A wisdom commandment require k’vanna which prioritizes tohor middot revealed at Horev ה’ ה’ אל רחום וחנון etc; the sage rabbi Yochanon established the halacha that a blessing requires שם ומלכות wherein a bnai brit Israel dedicates one or more or even all Oral Torah Horev middot לשמה – through swearing a Torah oath. Rabbi Yechuda Ha’Nasi – based upon the משל\נמשל revelation of the Sinai Mishkan established the halacha that the Shekinah dwells within the “Mishkan” Yatzir Ha-Tov within the heart.
The theology of Hebrews simply not the Courtroom Law of the Torah; and it does not preserve the Sinai commandments. The NT originally written in Greek and its Greek vocabulary superimposes Greek culture and customs upon critical Hebrew verbs which perverted the intent of these verbs completely. Agape does not mean kre’a shma “love”. Covenant does not mean oath alliance “brit”. Pauline faith in JeZeus as God clearly rejects the Yoval יסוד of the first Sinai commandment just and distinctly as the lands of Esav and Moav lie outside of the Cohen inheritance of Canaan. The Gospel “greatest commandment” totally perverts the restriction to worship the Sinai God within the oath brit Cohen land inheritance of Canaan as the “blessing” obligation of faith.
Hebrews 3:4 compares to the av tumah error of king Shlomo who both himself and his son at Sh’Cem failed to heed the elder advisors; Shlomo ignored the mussar command of the prophet Natan. The “Blood on his hands” משל instructs the mussar rebuke נמשל – David failed to judge Uriah through a Capital Crimes Great Sanhedrin Court! This Torah mandated Court system David and how much more so his son Shlomo failed to sanctify despite the anointing of Moshiach to this primary purpose. Foreign wars come as the primary consequence to Israel doing avoda zarah. Based upon the contrast between the first generation who conquered Canaan on the Pesach/Yoval יסוד and the next generation who abandoned the obligation to judicially judge the brit people through Sanhedrin common law courtroom justice.
The av tuma NT fundamentally violates the Hanaukkah lights as a mitzva from the Torah according to the B’HaG; it reframes the Torah primary obligations through its word translation perversions. Not the משל rabbinic ritual Hanukkah lights, but the נמשל k’vanna דאורייתא, not to interpret the Written Torah with any foreign logical authority (The Greeks caused Israel to forget the “Oral” Torah.), but the Oral Torah רוח הקודש tohor spirits learn in conjunction with the 7, 10, 13, & 32 rabbinic middot through which both Mishna and Gemara serve as the model of Torah mandated courtroom common law when in the future Jews reconquer Canaan; the brit cut with the Avot who endured injustice by Avi Melech’s theft of Sara and the sale of her burial crypt through the theft of water-wells and rape of Dinah.
[Yovel, Sanhedrin, Cities of Refuge existed as concrete institutions?] No they define the first generation who conquered Canaan and only that generation. The next generation abandoned this Torah and worshipped avoda zarah. Kings David and Shlomo failed to establish the “tradition” of Yovel according to the prophet Yermiah. The Talmud states that never during the entire בית שני did Jews keep the Yovel. No Yovel, No Sanhedrin courts. Therefore what then does the Mishna and Gemara teach? Talmud serves as a future model for the time when Jews once again conquer the oath brit land of Canaan and rule this land as a Free Independent nation. Hence both this and that – rather than exist as “concrete” – exist as fiction or abstract mussar or as a vision of Torah once the g’lut ends.
Shlomo’s Temple as much a puke avoda zara abomination as his marriage to foreign wives and assimilation to alien cultures and customs. The Prophet Natan’s mussar openly rejects copying Cathedral building acts of worship. Therefore building the בית המקדש – a mitzva of the Moshiach – means restoring the Federal Court system of common law/משנה תורה. Both Capital Crimes and Torts Sanhedrin common law courts.
Masechet Sanhedrin (especially discussions of kingship, the Davidic king, and the Moshiach time-oriented positive commandment) and Masechet Avodah Zarah (the Moshiach rebuilding themes appear in Aggadic passages), with key material also in Masechet Berakhot (aggadot about the messianic era) and in the Talmudic passages collected in Midrashim (e.g., Midrash Rabbah on Samuel/Kings).
Yechezkel’s vision of the Temple goes hand in glove with his and Yesha’Yahu’s Divine Chariot mysticism – which the kabbalah of rabbi Akiva interprets as פרדס inductive logic. The wheels within wheels represent the revolving repetition of the counting the שם השם in a 13 tohor middot revolving cycle. Where the Torah and NaCH Prophets count the שם השם לשמה in the ה’ ה’ אל רחום וחנון middot cycle. Torah and Nach organized in sugyot.
The Talmud likewise organized in sugyot. T’NaCH mussar compares a sugya of NaCH with בניני אבות other sugyot which contain the same cluster-set of Oral Torah middot. The Talmud by contrast employs a warp/weft Halacha -Aggadah opposing threads. The rabbinic halachic precedents the Amoraim sages bring to interpret a particular “face of the Mishna” – interpret by means of the 7,10,13 halachic rabbinic middot of logic; the Aggadic portions of the Talmud follow the 32 middot to make a drosh back to NaCH and Torah sources and therein set the search to compare NaCH and Torah sugyot which share the same cluster-set of Oral Torah middot אל רחום וחנון ect as בניני אבות.