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How is it that there are Twelve Tribes of Israel and yet two of the twelve sons of Jacob seem to be missing? And what is the significance? There is a common prayer that is prayed on Shabbat and in Congregations and Synagogues which says:
Y’simchah Elochim ke’Ephrieim v’chi Menasheh.
G-d make you as Ephraim and Mannaseh.
The prayer is based on the prayer of Jacob in Genesis 48:20. We can also see this reflected in 2 Chronicles 30:18. Jacob favorite son was Joseph and so he granted them a double portion, which may have had something to do with the fact that his brothers sold him into slavery. The significance lies in that they received a double portion, whereas if you look at Jacob and Esau, only one got the inheritance of the first born.
The prayer is a reflection of the desire that G-d would provide your children with more than enough, that they G-d would bring them home to a land He has prepared for them, that their life would be long, that they would become good husbands and fathers, prepare wives for them, protect, defend then, fill them with G-d’s spirit and that their family would grow to be fruitful.
Later Levi’s children are given for the priestly sacrifices that Adonay gave to Moses for the people to offer and called the Tribe of Levi to priestly duty. When they were called to priestly service the L-rd became their inheritance leaving them with no inheritance with Israel but as servants to the Children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as ministers to the L-rd.
So we see that the Tribe of Levi and the Tribe of Joseph, we’re in effect changed, well one removed from inheritance and the other one became two. That is why the memory stones include the Ten sons of Jacob and the two Sons of Joseph as tribes, which are the tribes of Yisrael.
The High Priest would wear the Ephod which had the Twelve memory stones when he went before the L-rd on the Day of Atonement and entered the Holy of Holies. Yeshua, when He went before the tribunal to be tried and crucified, first went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He took the weight of the world upon His shoulders. As the High Priest under the Levitical Priesthood would take the Memory Stones of the Twelve Tribes, Yeshua the Priest after the Order of Melchezidek took the weight of the world on His shoulder before going before the altar upon which His blood was shed. When Yeshua died on the cross the veil to the Holy of Holies was rent in two and people came out of their graves, this symbolized the changing of the Priesthood from Levitical to Melchezidek. This change included the removal of the need of Sacrificial Animals to atone for our sins, having been done away with and completed in Yeshua’s atoning death. There is no longer a need to bring animals for Sacrifice and G-d no longer dwells in the Temple but in our hearts. Yeshua was in effect changing the Priesthood and making peace with G-d for us in His flesh. It is significant that He took the weight of the world on for in the Garden of Gethsemane. At Gethsemane, the weight and Memory of all sins that had been done and that we would do came upon Yeshua and they were more than His flesh could bear, yet He endured and took them to the cross with Him. Yeshua remembered our sins and took them about, just as He wants to cleans of our sins and remove the remembrance of them so we can walk free from shame.
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Melchezidek is Yeshua, alway was. When the Word says that He walked in the garden, it was literal. There is only one uncreated, One. The only “new thing” the Lord ever did was to pass through the womb of a woman and develop as any other man in the world. Also, His priests are chosen by Him and transformed by Him alone (Matt 16:16-19), all others, the many, are cursed. The Word is clear. We did move from making offerings to some instantaneous holiness because of the Atonement. No, what we received is “the right to become children of God.” That is by the baptism of fire, the severe spiritual affliction that transforms us into the likeness of the Son. (Psalm 118) This chastening is the gate through which the righteous enter and no other is found. Yeshua is the Way to the gate, not the gate. YHWH cannot change, holiness is and will always be required to stand before Him. This cleansing by affliction, stated as necessary throughout the Word, is the truth that man does not love. Man wants to sing and dance and do as he wills, not to obey the Lord Yeshua. They are the “many.” What happened, though it always was; “The Lamb who was slain from the foundation”, is that we have gone from placing animals upon the brazen altar, which was only a type of being chosen through affliction, to placing ourselves there willfully. We have the opportunity to trade ashes for beauty, to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, to bind ourselves to the horns of the altar. This is some what has been long long lost, as the churches have become little more than witchcraft, as Jude did surely warn of and Jer 23 condemns. I am living this, nothing is harder, nothing is better. This is the comfort of David, Father’s anointed, the rod and the staff, the Comforter which Yeshua sent, the Holy Spirit, Yeshua Himself. All who have Him not and are not thusly chastised unto holiness are, by the Word, “illegitimate children”, are they not? Shalom
Melchezidek maybe Yeshua or Shem who is Avraham’s grandfather. There are many theories. Yeshua is a Priest after the Order of Melchezidek that’s all scripture proves. To add to scripture ot to elevate man’s revelation to that of G-ds word. Yeshua advised against elevating oral tradition to that level. We have become priest’s after the order of Melchezidek through Yeshua, he’s the high priest, we are His royal priesthood. Yeshua is the “Door” or “gate” none come to the Father except through Him, he’s the only mediator between the Father and men. There are pagan influences in Catholicism and those who follow their traditions. There is the true foundation found in the Hebrew roots. I wouldn’t say that there is “nothing more than witchcraft” as you say. Many are well intended and trained wrong and part of a culture that knows no better, the uphold oral traditions from their denominations and Catholics and neeed to find the truth. Many have found salvation through Yeshua as Messiah. This is good news, the observe on sun-day not shabbat, observes xmass and astarte, but many do it out of ignorance believing its the new “l-rds day” and think the “l-rds meal” is something other than passover. Its funny how someone outside of the bible can claim biblical authority and everyone follows. Its why we need to get back to only scripture. It is true that Yeshua is Adonai HaShem and every one of the theophanies (appearances of G-d in the Tanakh) was Yeshua. Yeshua is the I Am (Ego Eimi).
While I agree that going beyond Scripture is folly, I also agree with Scripture that God’s children are led by His Spirit. Theology is a purely intellectual realm and revelation by study alone is impossible. The Word is a Spiritual manual rooted in historical events. The perfect sovereignty of God over all things is proven in the fact that He has written His will into the very lives of people and nations so that prophecy is expressed in history.
Without His Spirit I couldn’t even discuss the Word of Truth. I’m just not very smart and I’m terrible at studying anything.
On the level of my own understanding I would say that Yeshua is probably Melchezidek because God walked in the garden, met with Abraham before destroying Sodom, the titles of Melchezidek and the allusions to the eternal nature of the individual and the order. But what convinced me was the answer of His Spirit within me. Without Yeshua’s Spirit I would doubt all things, like I used to.
The Spirit in me is confirmed by the Word. I always receive before I prove. It’s been that way from the moment I met the Living God just over three years ago. Shalom
If anything add or take away from the word then its not of the spirit. There is more possibility that Melchezedick is Shem than Yeshua atleast in traditional Jewish thinking. However the Essene’s did believe Messiah would come as Melchezidek. Scripture only prove’s He set up a new Order after Melchezidek of which we are both preist and He is the high preist that all I can go on from Scripture and history the rest is conjecture. I won’t argue what G-d hasn’t said or did say to you. I’ve had a few encounters with the Living G-d audible and physical manifestations of the Ruach HaKodesh. So I know that when G-d is present it changes you. I can’t approve or deny the veracity of your experience just based on my understanding of Scripture and the nature of the Ruach HaKodesh to remind us of Yeshua’s word’s I can not endorse or by that reject the idea. Its an idea. But I can not add it to scripture there is not enough textual proof and historically its not something that has been a major focus so in that I leave it at that. Yeshua is a preist after the order of Melchezidek as scripture says. Whether Melchezidek was Shem or Yeshua I don’t know the idea of him being Yeshua is interesting but unprovable so. Go with the Scripture study it out, listen to the word (d’var) that aligns with the word (d’var) the rest I’d toss just keep the baby and take good care of her. Thats my opinion. I like the connection to Shem.
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[...] Right Foundations: Why Did Ephraim & Mannaseh Replace Levi & Joseph? (Whats The Connection To Melchezidek & Yeshua?) http://paradoxparables.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/right-foundations-why-did-ephraim-mannaseh-replace-l… [...]
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[...] Right Foundations: Why Did Ephraim & Mannaseh Replace Levi & Joseph? (Whats The Connection To Melchezidek & Yeshua?) http://paradoxparables.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/right-foundations-why-did-ephraim-mannaseh-replace-l… [...]
[...] Why did Ephraim & Manasseh replace Levi & Joseph? What’s the connection with Melchezideck? [...]