The two trees becomes a one –a vision that need to be spread to the woods- part 2

Posted by Eli Dahan on August 31, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew | Be the First to Comment

Well, my friend, the unity is a vision that a lot of people have in their mind or in the souls. The Scriptures speak about unity in the book of Genesis, when the people that lived together in the land of Shinar, they settled with the same language and the same culture and had the same idea, to build a city and a tower in order to become famous (The expression that is written there is to make our self a name).This is one way to get a unity, a way that The Lord didn’t like because the people probably was too much arrogant and bragging.

The other way, that we are going to speak about today, is the way of Ezekiel, the prophet who saw the carriage of God, the prophet who gave us the vision of the dry bones, and the prophet who gave us the vision of the two tress become a one as written in Ezekiel 37:15-20 –

” וַיְהִי דְבַר-יְהוָה, אֵלַי לֵאמֹר וְאַתָּה בֶן-אָדָם, קַח-לְךָ עֵץ אֶחָד, וּכְתֹב עָלָיו לִיהוּדָה, וְלִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל חֲבֵרָו; וּלְקַח, עֵץ אֶחָד, וּכְתוֹב עָלָיו לְיוֹסֵף עֵץ אֶפְרַיִם, וְכָל-בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל חֲבֵרָו.  וְקָרַב אֹתָם אֶחָד אֶל-אֶחָד, לְךָ–לְעֵץ אֶחָד; וְהָיוּ לַאֲחָדִים, בְּיָדֶךָ.  וְכַאֲשֶׁר יֹאמְרוּ אֵלֶיךָ, בְּנֵי עַמְּךָ לֵאמֹר:  הֲלוֹא-תַגִּיד לָנוּ, מָה-אֵלֶּה לָּךְ.  דַּבֵּר אֲלֵהֶם, כֹּה-אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה, הִנֵּה אֲנִי לֹקֵחַ אֶת-עֵץ יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר בְּיַד-אֶפְרַיִם, וְשִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל חֲבֵרָו; וְנָתַתִּי אוֹתָם עָלָיו אֶת-עֵץ יְהוּדָה, וַעֲשִׂיתִם לְעֵץ אֶחָד, וְהָיוּ אֶחָד, בְּיָדִי.  וְהָיוּ הָעֵצִים אֲשֶׁר-תִּכְתֹּב עֲלֵיהֶם, בְּיָדְךָ—לְעֵינֵיהֶם”

“The word of the LORD came to me:”Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, ‘Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, ‘Ephraim’s stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. “When your countrymen ask you, ‘Won’t you tell us what you mean by this? say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.’ Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on”

The vision speaks about the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, represented by a tree and the two trees in a miracle becomes a one. The new one is one king, one rule, one place to live and the idea of the unity is clear. When I am reading this verses every time , I think to myself , why the prophecy of the two becomes one couldn’t be like this : there are a lot of trees in the forest and in the end all the forest becomes to one tree the represent all the unity that we can wish for. Every tree must have the uniqueness, but all the trees in the forest can live together in harmony and peace- that is my wish for the close future!

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The two trees becomes a one – a vision that need to be spread to the woods- part 1

Posted by Eli Dahan on August 28, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew | Be the First to Comment

Whenever the scriptures need to explain to people what they should do or feel in order to make a change, they use, in a lot of cases with the nature and his components such as the water, the leaves, the land and the rests of the creatures, which are not human-beings. We can learn a lot from this type of usage, but today this will not be our topic.

After the exile from Israel, after the destruction of the first temple in 586 B.C.E a big space had been left in the people that exiled out of Israel by the force of the Babylonians. They felt depressed and the scriptures knows how to tell us the feeling of the exiles in the rivers of Babylon, sitting there, crying all the time, playing with there violins the songs of victory to their enemies and feeling like the woods ate the chosen tree and neglected him in a corner that no one sees him.

Let us look at the scriptures and feel their pain as written in Psalms 137:1-4-

“עַל נַהֲרוֹת, בָּבֶל–שָׁם יָשַׁבְנוּ, גַּם-בָּכִינוּ:    בְּזָכְרֵנוּ, אֶת-צִיּוֹן.

עַל-עֲרָבִים בְּתוֹכָהּ–    תָּלִינוּ, כִּנֹּרוֹתֵינוּ.
כִּי שָׁם שְׁאֵלוּנוּ שׁוֹבֵינוּ, דִּבְרֵי-שִׁיר– וְתוֹלָלֵינוּ שִׂמְחָה:
שִׁירוּ לָנוּ,    מִשִּׁיר צִיּוֹן. אֵיךְ–נָשִׁיר אֶת-שִׁיר-יְהוָה:    עַל, אַדְמַת נֵכָר”

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?

The rivers had a lot of the tears of the people from Israel. Though they made sins, though they didn’t serve The Lord in the correct way, they didn’t imagine that the chosen tree will be left alone in the rivers of Babylon.

The question the need to be ask is what is going to be the thing that will encourage them to come back and serve The Lord what metaphor will bring them the vision that will open their eyes , or if I might ask , open our eyes today , in the days that some people says that the world is not united?

To be continued…

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Who was The Serpent in Garden of Eden?

Posted by Eli Dahan on August 24, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

We all know the story of Garden of Eden and the forbidden fruit of the Tree OfKnowledge (see “The power of temptation-Seductive women in the Bible” blog). However, there are a few interpretations to the question:” who was the Serpent?”

The first and the most known interpretation can be found in The Book of Genesis chapter 3. The Serpent is described as an evil snake that seduces Eve to taste from the forbidden fruit of the Tree Of Knowledge, and as a result Eve and Adam were expelled from the Garden of Eden and the snake was cursed by God to crawl on his belly and eat dust for all his life.

Genesis 3:4-6-

” וַיֹּאמֶר הַנָּחָשׁ, אֶל-הָאִשָּׁה:  לֹא-מוֹת, תְּמֻתוּן.  כִּי, יֹדֵעַ אֱלֹהִים, כִּי בְּיוֹם אֲכָלְכֶם מִמֶּנּוּ, וְנִפְקְחוּ עֵינֵיכֶם; וִהְיִיתֶם, כֵּאלֹהִים, יֹדְעֵי, טוֹב וָרָע.  וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל וְכִי תַאֲוָה-הוּא לָעֵינַיִם, וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל, וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ, וַתֹּאכַל; וַתִּתֵּן גַּם-לְאִישָׁהּ עִמָּהּ, וַיֹּאכַל”

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

According to Kabalistic legends, after Lilith (see” Lilith-Queen of the demons “blog) left Garden of Eden returned to the garden as the Serpent whom tempted Eve.

The Talmud states that Samael (see” Demons in Jewish Mythology- Samael” blog), the Angel of Death, is made equivalent to the Biblical Serpent of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Also according to the Talmud, Satan and Samael are the same, which means that the Serpent is Satan…

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To be left-handed or two-handed in The Scriptures

Posted by Eli Dahan on August 22, 2009 under Bible, Biblical Hebrew, Jewish Folklore | Be the First to Comment

Only one out of ten has this character – to be left-handed and in all the generation there’s seemed to be ambiguity about this character – some said that people who are left-handed are like cripples ; some , on the other hand said that this is the ultimate warrior in the field , that can fight with both of his hands without any difference.

Today we will speak about the left-handed or two handed figures from The Scriptures.

First of all let us speak about one of the sneakiest judges from the people of Israel – Ehud Ben Gera, who was left-handed and won the battle with the Moabites after killing their king –Eglon. The bible says about Ehud this sentence in Judges 3:15-

“   …. וַיָּקֶם יְהוָה לָהֶם מוֹשִׁיעַ אֶת-אֵהוּד בֶּן-גֵּרָא בֶּן-הַיְמִינִי, אִישׁ אִטֵּר יַד-יְמִינוֹ…”

“Again the Israelites cried out to the LORD, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite”

Ehud was from the tribe of Benjamin, which was well-known of his left-handed warriors, who didn’t miss any shooting as written in Judges 20:15-

“מִכֹּל הָעָם הַזֶּה, שְׁבַע מֵאוֹת אִישׁ בָּחוּר, אִטֵּר, יַד-יְמִינוֹ:  כָּל-זֶה, קֹלֵעַ בָּאֶבֶן אֶל-הַשַּׂעֲרָה–וְלֹא יַחֲטִא“

“Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss”

We are not sure if being left-handed was the character of this tribe from the genes or from practice and training. What we know fur sure is that being left-handed or two-handed ,like Ehud and some his tribe were, gave you the advantage in the battle as written in 1 Chronicles 12:2-

“   נֹשְׁקֵי קֶשֶׁת, מַיְמִינִים וּמַשְׂמִאלִים בָּאֲבָנִים, וּבַחִצִּים, בַּקָּשֶׁת–מֵאֲחֵי שָׁאוּל, מִבִּנְיָמִן“

“They were armed with bows and were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones right-handed or left-handed; they were kinsmen of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin”

There are so much discussion until today that ask is the tribe of Benjamin, that had

this left-handed character have been admired or not by the authors of the bible. It’s all related to the person who holds the pen.

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