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Recently
I sent out an email asking everyone in my Scriptures
group what they knew about Jannes and Jambres
the two that 2nd Timothy says resisted Moshè.
As a result of that email Ed sent me a file that
came off a disk he had obtained from sacred-texts.com.
I read this file with great interest because I
was learning things I didn’t know before including
the fact that Jannes and Jambres were two of the
magicians that opposed Moshè in Pharaoh’s
court; they were also the sons of Balaam of Numbers
25 fame who was also there in Pharaoh’s court
with them.
Almost
everybody that gets these emails knows that I
am big on speaking the Word out loud based on
Deuteronomy chapters 6 & 11. With regard to
speaking the Word out loud I found this at THE
LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME III Chapter VI, By Louis
Ginzberg available online here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/loj/loj308.htm:
The
man whom the Moabites and Midianites believed
to be Moshè' peer was none other than Laban,
Yisra'el's arch-enemy, who in olden days had wanted
to root out entirely Jacob and all his family,
and who had later on incited Pharaoh and Amalek
against the people of Yisra'el to bring about
their destruction. Hence, too, the name Balaam,
"Devourer of Nations," for he was determined
to devour the nation of Yisra'el. Just at this
time Balaam was at the zenith of his power, for
his curse had brought upon the Moabites their
defeat at the hands of Sihon, and his prophecy
that his compatriot Balak should wear the royal
crown had just been fulfilled, so that all the
kings sent ambassadors to seek advice from him.
He had gradually developed from an interpreter
of dreams to a sorcerer, and had not attained
the still greater dignity of prophet, thus even
surpassing his father, who had indeed been prophet
too, but not so notable a one as his son…
Moshè
was Yisra'el's prophet, and Balaam was prophet
of the heathens: but how great a contrast between
these two! Moshè exhorted his people to
keep from sin, whereas Balaam counseled the nations
to give up their moral course of life and to become
addicted to lewdness. Balaam was also different
from the Yisra'elite prophet in his cruelty. They
had such pity for the nations that misfortune
among the heathens caused them suffering and sorrow,
whereas Balaam was so cruel that he wanted to
destroy an entire nation without any cause.
Balaam's
course of life and his actions show convincingly
why Jahuwah withdrew from the heathen the gift
of prophecy. For Balaam was the last of the heathen
prophets.
This
gave me a better understanding of why Jahshuwah
said in Revelation 2:14, “Nevertheless, I have
a few things against you: you have some people
there who are clinging to the teaching of Balaam,
who taught Balak to set a trap and a stumbling
block before the sons of Yisra’el, [to entice
them] to eat food that had been sacrificed to
idols and to practice lewdness [giving themselves
up to sexual vice].” I believe a major stumbling
block that has been set before people today is
the mixing of pagan names like God, Christ, &
Jesus into the truth.
The
Legends Of The Jews continues about Balaam:
In
order that the heathens might not say, "Had
we had a prophet like Moshè, we should
have received the Torah," Jahuwah gave them
Balaam as a prophet, who in no way was inferior
to Moshè either in wisdom or in the gift
of prophecy. Moshè was indeed the greatest
prophet among the Yisra'elites, but Balaam was
his peer among the heathens. But although Moshè
excelled the heathen prophet in that Jahuwah called
him without any previous preparation, whereas
the other could obtain Divine revelations only
through sacrifices, still Balaam had one advantage
over the Yisra'elite prophet. Moshè had
to pray to Jahuwah "to show him His ways,"
whereas Balaam was the man who could declare of
himself that he "knew the knowledge of the
Most High." But because, in spite of his
high prophetic dignity, Balaam had never done
anything good or kind, but
through his evil tongue had almost destroyed all
the world…
As
I was reading this file and I came to this I could
not leave it there without writing this. This
pagan prophet Balaam, by his tongue, had almost
destroyed the whole world! James had these things
to say about the tongue:
James
1:26:
If
anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously
observant of the external duties of his faith)
and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his
own heart, this person's religious service is
worthless (futile, barren).
James
3:3-8:
If
we set bits in the horses' mouths to make them
obey us, we can turn their whole bodies about.
Likewise, look at the ships: though they are
so great and are driven by rough winds, they
are steered by a very small rudder wherever
the impulse of the helmsman determines. Even
so the tongue is a little member, and it can
boast of great things. See how much wood or
how great a forest a tiny spark can set ablaze!
And the tongue is a fire. [The tongue is a]
world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating
and depraving the whole body and setting on
fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of man's
nature), being itself ignited by hell (Gehenna).
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile
and sea animal, can be tamed and has been tamed
by human genius (nature). But the human tongue
can be tamed by no man. It is a restless (undisciplined,
irreconcilable) evil, full of deadly poison.
Let
us not use our tongues for evil. Let us bridle
it and use it for good by speaking Jahuwah’s Word
when we rise up, when we go to bed, while we are
in the way; let us keep it as forhead bands between
our eyes and write it upon our doorposts and gates.
Let us teach it to your children that it may go
well with us and our children after us. We have
a promise in Joshua chapter one that when we do
so we will become doers of the Word and we will
make our way prosperous and have good success.
We will restore our own little worlds first and
then after that we will restore the rest of the
world as well for the eyes of Jahuwah run to and
fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect
toward him. 2 Chronicles 16:9. When we speak the
Word we control our thinking and make hearts perfect
toward Jahuwah and then HE WILL “show himself
strong [on our] behalf.” When Jahuwah shows Himself
strong on our behalf, there is nothing that can
stop us. The governments of this world will be
counted by us as less than nothing. See Isaiah
40:17 (All nations before him are as nothing;
and they are counted to him less than nothing,
and vanity.)
Woooo
Hoooo, let us be more zealous for Jahuwah now
than we have ever been! Bear
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