Prophet Pearls #33 -Bechukotai-Jeremiah 16:19-17:14

This week’s Prophet reading—traditionally called the Haftorah—is Jeremiah 16:19–17:14. It accompanies the Torah portion Bechukotai (Leviticus 26:3–27:34).

This week’s reading speaks of the futility of false gods, religious lies, and trusting in man, followed by God’s promise to teach people about Himself. God speaks of searching men’s hearts and dealing with them according to their deeds. The passage ends with Jeremiah’s request to be healed and saved. Listen to Keith Johnson and Nehemia Gordon as they discover priceless gems in this installment of Prophet Pearls: Exploring Biblical Prophecy for Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.

If you would like to listen to Keith and Nehemia discuss the Torah portions that correlate to the Prophet portions here are the original Torah Pearls programs recorded in 2011-2012.

Transcript

Prophet Pearls #33 - Bechukotai (Jeremiah 16:19-17:14)

You are listening to Prophet Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Exploring biblical prophesy for yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Nehemia: Welcome to Prophet Pearls, recorded live in the city of the prophets, Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel. This is Nehemia Gordon, and I am so excited to be exploring biblical prophecy for yesterday, today, and tomorrow, in the very city where Isaiah preached in the public squares, in the same streets where Zechariah spoke the Word of God, and in the place where Jeremiah prophesied. Welcome to Prophet Pearls. Keith, are you as excited as I am to be here in Jerusalem?

Keith: What do you mean am I excited? Now, you didn’t put me in the introduction, though. You’ve got to start over, and say…

Nehemia: You’re here. No, I said...

Keith: And say this is Nehemia Gordon with Keith Johnson. No one knows that I’m here! You’ve got to start over again. Say my name! [laughing] I’m just kidding.

Nehemia: “Thus saith Keith Johnson: ‘Thou shalt honor my name.’”

Keith: Yes, right. No, I’m excited. I am excited to be here with you, because we’re really into the flow here. We’ve been here for a few days, and we’ve been able to record. I mean, basically, that’s all we’ve had a chance to do, but it’s an important thing that we’re doing. It’s the mission that we’re a part of, and our Prophet Pearl Partners from all the way on the West Coast, furthest most west part of the United States, Jim and Jeanette, thank you so much for being our partners! Not only were they our Prophet Pearl Partners, they helped us when we were out in Oregon, and I want to thank them for that also.

Nehemia: Yes. Thanks, guys.

Keith: You did some great work for us. So yes, we’re here talking in Jeremiah.

Nehemia: And they fed us!

Keith: Yes. Boy, that’s a change. Jeremiah chapter 16, Nehemia, you tried to get into this passage the previous...

Nehemia: Last week, yes.

Keith: The previous week, you were so fired up. But now we’re going to be in Jeremiah 16. I don’t know how we’re going to get out of it, though. I will tell you.

Nehemia: I think we can just spend the whole time on the first verse.

Keith: In all seriousness, and I’m not trying to be funny, actually, the second verse is what really caught me.

Nehemia: Oh.

Keith: But I think you’re right. And then I said something, as we were preparing, is that this is one of these passages where - and correct me if I’m wrong - but even how it’s written, and Jeremiah’s writing it, it’s one thing when you’re talking about a story, “This is what happened and this thing happened.” But then when the prophets get into these times where they’re laying out this information, whether it’s, “Thus sayeth Yehovah,” or here’s what’s going on, and each of the verses kind of can literally have their own section where we could talk about it. And we could pick three verses out of these 20… however many verses that we’re in, and we literally could take the whole time.

So we have to be disciplined. I don’t know how we’re going to do it. Maybe we can at some point determine that there are things that people can check themselves, but there really is some amazing stuff in here. So let’s get started.

Nehemia: Can I read verse 19?

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: I want to read it from the corrected King James Version. This is not a version you’ll find anywhere. Jeremiah 16:19, “O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, ‘Surely the Jews have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is profit, but we have inherited (the Gentiles) truth and salvation.” Is that what yours says?

Keith: I don’t know where you got that from. I don’t know what you’re doing. Tell me what you’re doing now. This clearly doesn’t say that, does it?

Nehemia: It doesn’t say that.

Keith: No.

Nehemia: What it actually says is, “The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth and shall say, ‘Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.’” But when I talk to some Gentiles, I get the impression sometimes that they say, “We’ve got all the truth, and you Jews need to come to us and convert to us in order to have truth.”

And that’s not what Jeremiah says. It’s really interesting. He’s clearly speaking here about this message for all mankind, that the nations of the world will come to Yehovah and they will say, “Our fathers have inherited lies,” and actually, the word there is “they’ve passed onto us as inheritance lies and vanity and things in which there is no profit.”

Keith: I do think it is interesting that it uses the word “goyim,” the nations will come. Sometimes that word is used at different times and people have different ways that they use it. And I’ve seen this verse used many times by different people talking about traditions of the past, that the fathers taught them a tradition that wasn’t truthful, and they use this verse and say they’ve inherited nothing but lies.

Nehemia: Right. And so in case we don’t know what it’s talking about, the next verse explains it.

Keith: Yes, it does. And actually, the next verse is where I’m going to have to push you on your computer a little bit, if that would be okay?

Nehemia: Sure. We can try it.

Keith: It’s interesting, folks, we’ve got our computers here, we’ve got Hebrew Bibles, English Bibles, iPads recording, we’ve got everything all set up here, and it really is… we have to take a picture of this, Nehemia, and send it.

Nehemia: I think we should take a picture.

Keith: We can really take a picture this.

Nehemia: We’ve got like a bedsheet hanging on the wall.

Keith: A bed sheet hanging on the wall.

Nehemia: To absorb the sound. [laughing]

Keith: No. Let me tell you what happened last night. So we put a bunch of stuff in the window, you know, you put it in the window because sometimes we hear the things... And so it’s late last night, you’re enjoying your dinner, whatever you’re doing with Bubby Dina, with having some fellowship. I’m here by myself in the little quiet apartment. This is hilarious. So I’m sitting here, and it’s just me, and I’m in the basement.

Nehemia: That’s it. Tonight you’re sleeping at my mom’s house.

Keith: No, no.

Nehemia: She prepared, she actually went and bought a bed for him.

Keith: No, let me finish what happened. So I’m sitting here…

Nehemia: But he wants to be alone in this safe house.

Keith: No, that’s [coughs]

Nehemia: With his coughing.

Keith: So I’m sitting here by myself, it’s late at night, Nehemia. And I don’t know, it’s a little eerie, okay. [laughing] I’m here in Jerusalem, all of a sudden, this thing falls out of the window.

Nehemia: You’re kidding me?

Keith: No, it falls out of the window, and I think you did that on purpose.

Nehemia: Oh, yes.

Keith: There’s like something that was on purpose, that was like a bottle, it falls out of the window, and something shifts. And I’m like, “Somebody is coming in the apartment!”

Nehemia: They’re breaking in. Just to give people the picture here, we’re in the side of a mountain. On one side of this apartment building is actually a cliff. It’s built into the side of a cliff. On the other side there’s a sheer drop, and so we get these incredibly strong winds, and they’re so strong that we’ve actually heard them blowing through the window.

Keith: Yes, they’ve blown through the window.

Nehemia: And so we took this large quilt - I did - and I put it into the windowpane, and I guess that fell down last night.

Keith: And something else you put in there. No, it wasn’t just the quilt. There was something else that fell out.

Nehemia: Yes, I don’t know that other thing would’ve been.

Keith: It was a ghost or something. But I want to tell you something. I argued with you…

Nehemia: The ghost of Purim past.

Keith: Yes. I argued with you about having to do this. I didn’t know how it was all going to work, and really, obviously, it’s actually worked out well. Because being sick, I don’t want to obviously cause that to be the case. The other thing is, I’ve been here, being able to work on something, which next week I really am going to announce. Last night, Nehemia...

Nehemia: Your secret project.

Keith: No, it’s not a secret project. Last night is when it finally hit me that we really need to do this. And so this has really been a blessing, though every once in a while I get a little nervous when things fall out of the window. Being here alone and working on it. So I think next week we’re going to announce that. But now, let me get to this point where I’m going to have to use your computer. Can you do this?

Nehemia: Sure. I can try.

Keith: It says in 16:20, “Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods!” What it says is, “Can man make for himself elohim?” Literally, the same word in Genesis chapter one verse 1, “Bereshit bara Elohim,” “God made it,” and its words, the same exact vowels, consonants, the whole thing. And then it says, “And they are not elohim.” Now, when people see that “elohim,” and then this might be really too simple for you, you might think it’s not worth looking at it. But it really is kind of interesting, because there are often times where people look at “Elohim,” and they see that ending, which certainly looks like a plural ending and it looks like “gods” isn’t gods. And in this verse, it is speaking of gods. but when it speaks of Elohim, God, Elohim, Yehovah Elohim, it looks exactly the same.

Do you have a moment, Nehemia, that we could give people just a little bit? You do a great study on this. By the way, did you know last week we didn’t talk about the Ministry Minute?

Nehemia: We didn’t?

Keith: No, we didn’t. And I actually thought about this - this would be a great way to explain a little bit of what I think is the power of a lot of what you do is giving people the information. But there’s a study about Elohim, and the difference.

Nehemia: Yes. I have a three-part study about the grammar of the word Elohim and understanding it. And it is confusing, especially for English speakers. You’ve got, I don’t know, ‘dog’ and you add the ‘s,’ and it’s ‘dogs.’ You have ‘ox’ and you add the ‘en,’ and it’s ‘oxen.’ And it’s very straightforward. Even ‘oxen,’ for native English speakers, is just very straightforward; you add the ending and it becomes plural.

Hebrew is not so simple. In Biblical Hebrew, you add the ‘im’ ending, and actually for feminine is ‘ot,’ but for masculine it’s ‘im,’ and that’s a plural ending. But sometimes, the plural word is not plural, and “Elohim” is a great example. And here’s the point - plural in Hebrew can either be a plural of number - to be technical, a plural of quantity - or it can be a plural of quality.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And when it’s a plural of quality, they call it the majestic plural. It’s a way of saying something is great. For example, you can go to Exodus, and there it talks about the owner of an ox, and he there is called the “adonim.” “Adonim” in plural with the ‘im’ ending, but there’s only one owner of the ox. And why is there an ‘im’ ending? It’s majestic plural. There it’s not actually majestic, it’s just saying he is the owner.

Keith: He’s the owner.

Nehemia: He’s not just the lord of the ox, who bullies it, he is the owner of the ox. Usually Elohim, even though it has that plural ending, is a singular noun. Now, how do I know it’s quantitatively singular? First of all, it says, “Yehovah Eloheinu Yehovah echad.” “Yehovah is our God, Yehovah is one.” But beyond that, even grammatically, you can see that it’s singular. And so for example, we read the story, and we’ve talked about this before, the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. He says, “Yehovah hu HaElohim.” “Yehovah He is God.” And if Elohim were plural, it would say, “Yehovah hem HaElohim.” “Yehovah they are God.” And that’s exactly what it says here.

Keith: That’s why I wanted to bring this verse.

Nehemia: The “hem lo HaElohim,” “And they are not Elohim.”

Keith: And they are not God.

Nehemia: And so that tells you Elohim is God. And not to get too technical, people can go read the study. It’s on my website, nehemiaswall.com. My ministry is Makor Hebrew Foundation, my website is nehemiaswall.com. And really, what that’s about isn’t convincing you of my theology or this theology or that theology. Have whatever theology you want, that’s fine, but be empowered with the information. People can take that information and then go off into some different theology, that’s actually possible. Somebody can make a case for that.

But at least know what you’re talking about. At least have all the facts. I think whatever your theology ends up being, your theology will be that more solid because it’ll be based on truth and information, rather than on, “Oh, I heard this, and I thought that, and I misunderstood the language.” But the study there talks about Elohim being singular or plural, and it’s explained grammatically.

And by the way, there are pagan gods that are called “Elohim” in the singular. For example, Ashtoreth, Ishtar, in one verse in Kings is called “The god of the Sidonians.” And there it is “The Elohim of the Sidonians,” but it’s just Ishtar. There’s not more than one Ishtar. There is such a concept of more than one Ishtar, but not in that verse. Here it’s singular.

And so the point is that there’s Elohim which is quantitative, and there’s Elohim which is qualitative, and Elohim, referring to the God of Israel is singular. And actually, it’s interesting. There are exceptions. When the Philistines or other pagans speak about the God of Israel, all of a sudden the pronouns become plural. And again, not to get too technical, go read the study, there are three major things to look at to know if it’s singular or plural: verbs, adjectives, and pronouns. Pronouns is ‘he’ versus ‘they’. Verbs is something you don’t see in English, but in Hebrew, the verb is singular or plural. And adjectives, again, that’s something English doesn’t have and Hebrew does.

Keith: You know what? The reason I wanted to slow down and say that is because I think that this is one of those examples where people can be empowered. You can be empowered when you have the information, and I think in the way that information is presented is really important. But when they can understand how it’s applied, and that’s really the thing I really want to focus on.

When I looked at this verse, right away, I just thought what a great example to show, when I thought that study is one of those ones, Nehemia, that really is just a phenomenal study. People, I hope they’ll go and read it, because it empowers them to look at the text and know they don’t have to be confused about whether there’s a theological issue or not. Forget the theology for a second, have the information. Like you said, if you want to then make that theology from there, just make sure that the information is correct.

But in this situation, what was the lie? That “can a man make gods for himself? Yet they are not Elohim,” they are not gods. That’s not what they are. And this is Jeremiah explaining this to them. And then I think what’s...

Nehemia: I don’t understand this verse.

Keith: You didn’t understand it?

Nehemia: No, because they start off saying, “Our fathers have given us lies through inheritance.” And then he says, “Can a man…” So this is a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question for those who don’t know is like when I say to somebody, “What, are you stupid?” You’re not supposed to answer and say, “Yes, I am stupid.” Or, “No, I’m not.” It’s a rhetorical question.

Now, in Hebrew, rhetorical questions almost always have a negative answer. And here the answer is positive. For example, it says, “Mi kamocha ba’elim Yehovah?” “Who is like you among the gods, Yehovah?” The answer is no one.

Keith: No one.

Nehemia: It’s implied in negative when you ask a rhetorical question. But here the answer is positive. People do make themselves gods that aren’t gods. So why does it even say that? And I really don’t know the answer. Can you help me?

Keith: Well, no. You know what I think sometimes?

Nehemia: Do people invent gods? Sure they do. Go to India.

Keith: Can I just tell you what’s so funny?

Nehemia: They’ve got 33 million gods.

Keith: I’ve got to tell you something funny. So I was sitting talking to you and your mother, Bubby Dina. Hello, Bubby Dina, I hope you’re listening.

Nehemia: Hey Mom.

Keith: And I realized it was a moment of realization. You come from a religious background...

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: A Jewish background where you went to day school or you went to school.

Nehemia: Day school, yes.

Keith: Day school, and the Hebrew text, and your mom asking you, “What did the commenters say from the midcenturies?” And I’m thinking this is your background. I come from no church at all. My background...

Nehemia: You’re unchurched?

Keith: No, I’m completely and absolutely unchurched. So it’s really interesting for me - when I first came to the Bible, I didn’t come to the Bible as, “This is what I have to learn to understand all the religious ins and outs.” I came to the Bible because someone said, “This is where God recorded His Word.” And there are phrases and circumstances sometimes where I’m not asking the religious question. I’m not even asking a technical question. When I read this, the first thing I think about is Jeremiah saying, “Now, you guys, listen. What’s the lie? What’s the falsehood? Can you really make gods for yourself? They’re not gods. Can you really do this? Of course, you can’t do this.” Yet, in fact, people are doing it.

Nehemia: People do it every day. [laughing]

Keith: And this is the deception. And the reason that I say that it wasn’t such a big deal for me, it partly was because of the next verse.

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: Because the next verse set something out that… I don’t know, and I’ve used this verse a lot. But in the context, I think it’s even more powerful, at least for me when I’m looking at it. So can I read the verse?

Nehemia: Please.

Keith: “Therefore, aha! I’m going to…” [laughing]

Nehemia: No, this doesn’t have “Aha.” This has “lachen.”

Keith: I know it doesn’t have “Aha.” He lives in the last week, we’re still going to be discussing this “aha” thing. I think Nehemia is wrong on this, everybody.

Nehemia: Grammatically, I’m right.

Keith: He’s right. So “Therefore behold,”

Nehemia: Check it out.

Keith: Yes. “I am going to make them know.” What? “This time I’m going to make them know My power and My might.” Now, a third thing, “And they shall know that My name is,” what?

Nehemia: The LORD.

Keith: Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, the four letters. “Ki shemi Yehovah,” “That my name is Yehovah.” And this verse for me has really been powerful, because Nehemia, even in all of the religious gymnastics that goes on and the prohibitions of speaking God’s name and dealing with God’s name and what nations are going to know His name… When I get to this verse, it seems like it’s settled. It’s settled to me because he says, “I’m going to make them know.” Know what?

Nehemia: Who’s them?

Keith: Who are they?

Nehemia: Two verses earlier, it’s the Gentiles.

Keith: Yes, exactly. The ones that are… And that’s why for me I just feel like in one little small little drop in the great ocean of information, inspiration, and revelation, if I can play one little part of being the Gentile that comes from the foreign land that comes to this place to understand and to love His name, and if that can be my one little part, I love it. Because when I get to this verse He says, “I’m going to make them know.” What? “I’m going to make them know My power and My might; And they shall know that My name is Yehovah.” What? That is amazing.

Nehemia: Can we talk about the Pope?

Keith: Sure, we can.

Nehemia: You had this teaching, a great teaching about how… And I’ve also done a teaching about it. What was my teaching called…?

Keith: I don’t know, but why don’t you just keep to my teaching? Just tell them about mine.

Nehemia: Okay. I don’t even remember what mine is called, but it’s on YouTube somewhere.

Keith: What is mine called? I don’t know. [laughing]

Nehemia: I have no clue. But we both… and you did it first. Isn’t it in your book, His Hallowed Name Revealed Again, about Pope Benedict?

Keith: Oh, my goodness. You’re kidding me.

Nehemia: Can you talk about that?

Keith: I don’t know which part you want to talk about.

Nehemia: No, about how he forbade to speak...

Keith: He outlawed the name of God.

Nehemia: He banned the name!

Keith: And actually, there’s a video project on that also.

Nehemia: Oh, is there really?

Keith: Now is the Time, where we talk about him. Yes.

Nehemia: Okay. I don’t understand how the Pope can come along and say he represents God. And then God spoke this verse, “Behold, I will inform them this time, and I will inform them of My,” literally, “My hand and My might. And they will know that My name is Yehovah.” Can you explain to me? Look, you used to be under the Pope’s authority, right?

Keith: What do you mean I was under…? I was never a Catholic. What are you talking about?

Nehemia: No, but you’re a Methodist. Aren’t they…?

Keith: No! We have our own thing.

Nehemia: You’ve got your own shtick.

Keith: We’ve got our own shtick. [laughing]

Nehemia: No, but seriously, how can somebody read this verse, where Yehovah is saying, “I’m going to make the nations, the Gentiles, know My name,” and then come along and say, “I represent the man who said this, the God who said this, and you must not speak His name.” I don’t understand.

Keith: I do. Because I think the answer is in 16:19. They inherit the falsehood. And as a result of inheriting the lie, that’s the fathers telling the sons, who’s telling the sons, who’s telling the sons... And that’s why I think 16:21 is so powerful and so important. I think your question is exactly answered in that verse.

Literally, here’s what’s going on: “This is deception, this is deception, this is deception, but guess what? I’m going to step in. And when I step in, they’re going to know.” Who’s going to know? The ones who’ve been deceived, the ones who’ve inherited this lie, this deception, they’re going to know My power and My might. And they’re going to know that My name is Yehovah.

Nehemia: Can I toot Yehovah’s horn?

Keith: Please.

Nehemia: Can I please do that? I’m not tooting my horn, on the contrary. I get people who write to me all the time, and they say, “Nehemia, thank you so much…” And they’re in tears. And they’ll say, “Nehemia, you’re the one who told me about Yehovah’s name.” And I’m sure you get the same sort of thing, people who read His Hallowed Name Revealed Again.

Keith: Sure.

Nehemia: And I’m vexed by that. I mean, on the one hand I’m blessed to see that I’m answering my call of teaching people. But ultimately, I think we all need to recognize that if you know the name of the Creator of the universe, it didn’t come from Nehemia or Keith. If you believe His word, He tells you, you know His name because He informed you of His name. Maybe He used Keith as his mouthpiece and maybe He used me as His donkey, I don’t know. But if you know His name it’s because He wants you to know His name. He is telling you His name. Can I get an Amen?

Keith: Amen. I think that’s what’s so powerful about the verse. He says, “I’m going to make them know.” Now, how I do that... We’ve read verse after verse after verse where He gets evolved in the economy. He gets involved in marriages. He gets involved in specific situations. He gets involved in what people think and what they say and what they do. I mean, isn’t that the power of the verse, “I’m going to make them know.” I mean in the end, it’s all about Him. And that’s exactly what He does.

Nehemia: That’s why Jews talk about him as being the God of history.

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: He’s not just some God out there in cyberspace, so to speak, or up on Mount Olympus. He gets involved in our lives.

Keith: You know it’s interesting. We were talking about how we were going to deal with this passage. There really is so much… Literally, in all seriousness...

Nehemia: We won’t get through it all. Yes.

Keith: In all seriousness, we could just talk about this verse for the rest of the time. And we could talk in testimony, and we could give testimony of around the world where God is making His name known. Whether it’s in Khayelitsha in South Africa, whether it’s in parts of Russia, whether it’s in China. It’s amazing the testimonies that we could talk about right now, here in Jerusalem from different people around the world, where all of a sudden they wake up and all of a sudden they’re asking this question, “What is His name? And I want to know it!” And we have testimonies of this...

Nehemia: Well, I mean in Khayelitsha, the guy actually has a dream with the name in it.

Keith: Yes, he has a dream with the name in it.

Nehemia: And it’s actually a fulfillment of this prophecy. That’s amazing to me.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: That we have modern-day fulfillments of a prophecy spoken 2,600 years ago. And now, we can look around, today, in the 21st century, and that to me, I have to tell you, has been a shift. Because what I was taught growing up, the heritage I came from is, “Oh, no, miracles happened thousands of years ago, they don’t happen today anymore.” And if they’re miracles, they kind of like, maybe, hesitantly will admit they’re miracles. But biblical sorts of supernatural miracles, we’re not going to see those today.

And I look around and I see them. And up to a certain point, I was able to deny that and say, “That’s a coincidence, that’s a coincidence, that’s a coincidence.” But when these coincidences start to pile up, I have to look at that and say, “This is a God-incidence. This is the hand of Yehovah, the might of Yehovah informing people of His name.”

Keith: Yes. Like I said, we could spend the whole time just on this verse, and just talking about what we’ve seen just with our own four eyes. Well, I don’t know, you’ve got six, you’ve got glasses. Total, we’ve got six eyes that we can look at.

But again, the point is that… and this is where I’m having a little bit of a struggle, Nehemia, because I’m not really sure how to approach the rest of this in Jeremiah. I don’t know if we should just say verse… And I really need your guidance on this, do we go verse-by-verse or would you…?

Nehemia: What’s the next thing you want to talk about? Let’s jump to that. Because we can’t talk about everything, there’s so much in this passage. What’s your next thing you want to talk about?

Keith: We talk a lot about the inheritance and those kinds of things. 17:5 is where I kind of can sit. But I’ve got to give you…

Nehemia: You’ve got to talk about 17:2.

Keith: Well, there it is!

Nehemia: All right. Can you read 17:2?

Keith: “As they remember their children, so they remember their altars and their asherim by green trees on the high hills.”

Nehemia: All right. Well, I think this is really significant because in 16:19, God’s referring to these Gentiles who are speaking about their fathers’ sins. Here in 17:2 the Israelites aren’t recognizing their fathers’ sins, and they’re remembering them fondly.

So we’ve got the Gentiles who are coming and saying, “Our fathers have given us lies.” And I kind of made fun of them before, but the Israelites in 17:2 are remembering how beautiful it was, and we had, “Oh, man, on top of every hill we had these beautiful altars, and we had these beautiful synagogues.” And they’re not recognizing their sins. They’re remembering, “Wasn’t it beautiful when we had that? Wasn’t that awesome?” Instead of confessing their sins.

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: So I think there’s an intentional contrast there.

Keith: Okay.

Nehemia: Which isn’t to say the Israelites at some point won’t confess their sins, but here I think Israel is being called to task and saying, “Look, the Gentiles are doing it. What are you waiting for?” So we can skip to 5 if you want.

Keith: No, no. And we have to say 4, because He’s then saying what happens. He says, “And you will, even for yourself, let go of your inheritance that I gave you.” I mean, think of this picture – “You’re going to let go of the inheritance that I gave you, and then I’m going to make you serve your enemies in the land which you do not know.”

And we can talk about history here on a few different levels, “For you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn forever.” Where the people actually gave up their inheritance, we just talked about it with Jeremiah. That’s basically what’s about ready to happen. They’re about to...

Nehemia: Last week.

Keith: Yes, Babylonians are going to come and they’re going to end up being in Babylon serving their enemies, and we have Assyria, and we have other examples.

Nehemia: And there’s a play on words here, because in verse 4 where it says, “You will let go,” or what do you have there?

Keith: It says, “And even of yourself, you will let go of your inheritance.”

Nehemia: Yes, So the word for “let go” is “shmitah.” And that’s that...

Keith: We talked about that shmitah?

Nehemia: Yes. Shmitah, it’s to let go. And definitely within the context of Jeremiah, this is a play on words, because Jeremiah has this concept that you’re going to have 70 years of exile because there were 70 shmitahs that they didn’t observe, that they didn’t keep, and that’s why the number is 70. And so here, when he says you’re going to be shmitah’d and you’re going to lose your inheritance because you didn’t observe the shmitah of the land, there’s a play on words in that.

Keith: Wow. Wow.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: They’re going to serve their enemies in the land which they do not know, “For you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn forever.” And this is the verse I wanted to get to, because this is sort of what it comes down to, and we’re beginning another phrase here.

Nehemia: Go for it.

Keith: “Thus says Yehovah, ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from Yehovah.” And that really is simple, it’s very clear, but isn’t that what we see? Man trusting in mankind, man looking at mankind and saying, “Here’s where I’ve got to lay my trust because I need man to do this for me and man to do that for me.”

And it says actually that that’s a curse. “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind.” Wow. “And makes flesh his strength.” So putting man as the focus ends up being the very thing that turns away. By putting man as the focus, it says, “And whose heart turns away,” that’s the manifestation of the trust. When I trust in man, I can’t be trusting in Him, so my heart then literally shifts and turns away from Yehovah.

Nehemia: Wow. Can you read the next two verses?

Keith: Yes. “For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant.” Oh, but then 17:7, “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yehovah and whose trust is Yehovah.”

Nehemia: One more verse.

Keith: Yes. It’s like I’m reading the Psalms here. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes.” And it does come. “But its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.”

Nehemia: So we’ve got a contrast. We have the man in verses 5 to 6 who trusts in Yehovah, and he’s like a bush in the desert.

Keith: You mean the man who trusts in man.

Nehemia: Sorry. The man who trusts in man in verses 5 to 6, he’s like a bush in the desert he’s going to be burned up and he’s cursed. And the contrast is the man who trusts in Yehovah.

Keith: And he’s blessed.

Nehemia: And he’s like a tree by water, where if there’s a drought it’s okay, because there’s this constant source of water. And I have to talk about my… can I do the Ministry Minute now?

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: Because my ministry is called Makor Hebrew Foundation, and one of the things that inspired it was the verse actually here in Jeremiah, where he talks about Yehovah being the “makor,” the source of living water, that spring, and it’s saying Israel rejected the source of living water, the spring, and instead, they chose for them cisterns. And cisterns are these dug pits where they would hold water, line the sides with plaster, but if the plaster cracks your water seeps out. The source of living water - that’s reliable. Yehovah’s reliable. We think we can trust in our own might, but our own might is limited. Yehovah is not limited. It might work when we try to do it ourselves from time to time, but if we want something to really work we’ve got to trust in Yehovah.

Let me read that verse that inspired my ministry, it’s Jeremiah Chapter 2. I don’t think this is one of the sections, is it? As far as I remember. Jeremiah 2 verse 13. I love this, because I go out into the desert here in Israel, and you see everything desolate as far as the eye can see, and then you come upon a spring, and there’s life all over the place among a source of living water.

Jeremiah 2:13, “For My people have done a twofold wrong: They have forsaken Me, the Fount of living water,” that’s the makor of living water, “and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, which cannot even hold water.” And it’s saying there are two sins Israel has done. One is they didn’t trust Yehovah, and number two is they trusted in their own power, they trusted in man, in a human being, and not in the eternal Creator of the universe, the makor of living water, Yehovah. And that’s why I called my ministry Makor Hebrew Foundation, the Hebrew source. If we can get back to the source then we can be empowered with the information and come into this relationship with the Creator of the universe. That’s how I see it, and my website is nehemiaswall.com.

Keith: Awesome. We didn’t do a Ministry Minute last week, and this week, I’m going to make it very short. I just want people to go to bfainternational.com and take a look this week, and then go back next week and you’re going to see a big change on the front page based on the last couple of days.

Nehemia really has been a blessing, because over the last 13 years we really have taken the process seriously to actually approach the Word of God together with different mentalities and different backgrounds, even different philosophies. But where we have sort of agreed, I think not only sort of, but we have agreed, when we can find out what the word means in its language, history, and context, there isn’t really much argument with us. Where there are times there might be different approaches, but I think the key has always been, let’s be able to use the ability to get to what the source is. And that’s really what I want to focus on.

So I want to invite people to go to bfainternational.com, take a look at this amazing site, and that really gives so many aspects of our ministry. But then next week go back, because there’s going to be a great thing for you, based on what happened in this basement apartment. And I want to say, this week, of all the stuff that’s gone on, I really kind of had an epiphany here, and I feel like I’m going to take a step of faith…

Nehemia: Keith Johnson epiphany.

Keith: Yes, take a step of faith and next week make the announcement on it. But I am excited, Nehemia, and it really has to do with what we’ve been doing for years, so I’m real excited about that.

Nehemia: This is a secret he’s been teasing us about for weeks.

Keith: It’s not a secret. It hasn’t… because I couldn’t come to the place where I knew for sure. You know one of the things I got to say about our ministries, and this is really serious for me? What I like to say is this: never overpromise and underperform.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: Always under-promise and over-perform. And I can say this with a clear conscience. Nehemia, you tell people to go to your studies and read the studies, and you’re real casual about it. But I can tell you something, that’s not an over-promise; that if they go to those studies and they read them for themselves, they’re going to be blessed beyond measure. And I think what we try to do, whether it’s videos, articles, radio interviews, whatever they are, we want to be able to have people say, “Wow, that was amazing.”

There’s a level of quality that you’re going to experience with bfainternational.com. And I have to say in humility, people have said around the world, “Wow, what amazing quality.” And that’s not because I’m so smart. I just have people around me that are smarter than me. [laughing] I mean it just works out that these are really talented people that really make things look good, and I think that that’s what God’s word requires - that we give the best presentation, and I know that’s certainly been the case with you, and I appreciate that. So let’s move on.

Nehemia: Well, I want to talk about verse 7.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: I grew up Orthodox, and we had this song, and there was a song based on this verse. Can I sing it?

Keith: No, no, is there a recording of it somewhere, Nehemia?

Nehemia: There is, and if I remember, I’ll post the link on the website.

Keith: Can our editor put the recording? No, are you going to sing...?

Nehemia: No, I’ve got to sing it.

Keith: Oh, boy.

Nehemia: So it’s “Baruch hagever asher yiphtach ba’Yehovah.” Of course, the way we sang it growing up was “ba’Adonai.” “Vahaya Yehovah miphtacho,” and again, “Adonai.” So that’s, “Blessed is the man who will trust in Yehovah, and Yehovah will be his security,” miphtacho.

And here’s the funny thing - as I was preparing this, you know, I prepared this a few months ago because we came together here in Jerusalem, we have so much to do, everything had to be prepared. And as I was preparing this, I remembered the song “Baruch hagever asher yiphtach ba’Adonai.” And then they’d say also “ba’Hashem,” “asher yiphtach ba’Hashem.” And I thought, “What is that? I want to find that song.” And then what I found out - it turns out that this song I grew up singing and hearing was based on a song from the 1950s by Peggy March, “I will follow him. I’ll follow, I’ll follow, I will follow him.” Is that the song? “Baruch hagever asher yiphtach ba’Hashem. Doo, doo, doo.”

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: Anyway, that’s a piece from 20th century American-Jewish culture.

Keith: Yes. Well, I will say this...

Nehemia: But isn’t it amazing that the words of Jeremiah and the words of Yehovah still live among the people?

Keith: Yes. And you know what, I will say… I don’t know if you remember this, we’ve done so many things you probably don’t remember, but we had a video done called Blessed is the Man. Do you remember that?

Nehemia: Oh, yes that.

Keith: But in Psalm 1, I would just want to go back to this really quickly if I can. Can I read Psalm 1?

Nehemia: Please.

Keith: Because Jeremiah, whether, well...

Nehemia: Is Jeremiah based on Psalm 1? Or is Psalm 1 based on Jeremiah? Or are they based on this common sentiment?

Keith: Common sentiment. I want to read this, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners,” this is Psalm 1 verse 1, “or sit in the seat of mockers, but his delight is in the Torah of Yehovah, and on His Torah he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For Yehovah watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” I want to go back to this, “But his delight is in the Torah of Yehovah, and on His Torah he meditates day and night.” Would you not agree that that’s what we’ve been doing since we’ve been here?

Nehemia: Yes. He complains about not being allowed to get out of the apartment.

Keith: I’m not let out of the apartment.

Nehemia: We’re meditating upon the Torah day and night.

Keith: And as a result of that, I’m like “a tree planted by streams of water.” There’s no way that I could be in Jerusalem… I’ve been in Jerusalem now, Nehemia, for I think, it’s been four straight days. It’s impossible that I’ve been in Jerusalem and have not been to the Old City, and yet I haven’t because every day, day and night, we’ve been meditating, and that would be the only thing that would keep me away from that - is that literally, the Word of God would keep me away from doing what my heart’s desire is, and really, that’s to be there and to spend some time there.

Now, tonight, I don’t know if you know it or not, we’re going to break tradition from spending all night in the Word of God, and we’re going to go celebrate Purim. But that’s one little...

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: Amen. But let me just say this…

Nehemia: Obviously, this is prerecorded.

Keith: This is prerecorded.

Nehemia: Today is Purim.

Keith: It is Purim.

Nehemia: What time is Purim?

Keith: Yes, we’re actually going to do that.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Again, we’re looking at this, we’re looking at that, and again, 17:7, “Blessed is the man,” dealing also with Psalm 1.

Nehemia: So I’m going to state what is obvious to me, and maybe it isn’t obvious to somebody, but this really is desert imagery. When you’re in the desert, and he says that explicitly.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: When you’re in the desert, water is key. If you don’t have water, you die of thirst, and the trees shrivel up and things die. And trusting in Yehovah and not trusting in your own might is like trusting in this makor of living water, this eternal spring, this flowing river.

And again, I go back to the image of you’re out in the middle of the desert and there’s nothing, you can look for miles around and all you see is desolation, and you come down into a little valley and you see a little spring and everything around it is life. And the spring flows out into the nachal, the wadi, and everything along that stream is life. And you go ten feet away from the stream and everything’s dead. And this is the image here - don’t trust in yourself. Trust in Yehovah. I want to ask what might be sort of like a technical question.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: I know you don’t like… you just want the spirit, you don’t want the technical questions.

Keith: No, no, I love the technical stuff. It’s great to have.

Nehemia: But why does Jeremiah speak here about trusting in man and flesh? And the reason I ask that is the verse before says, “Shall man make himself gods which are not God?” And apparently, the answer is, obviously, they do. So what is Jeremiah referring to here? Is he referring to a human king? Or maybe he’s referring to a foreign power. Or maybe it’s a man-god like Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. These were human beings who were these superpowers, these countries, and Pharaoh said, “I am a god. I’m a son of god. You have to worship me.” And I think there’s a little of both of that. These kings proclaim themselves gods, and I think Yehovah is saying these man-gods can’t save you. Only the God of Spirit, the God of Elohei kol basar, only He can save you.

Keith: Maybe this is a simple question, but when I get to verse 10 then he says, “I, Yehovah, search the heart and examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct, and according to what he’s deserved.” Then I think to myself, “Who else does that?” The Babylonian king can’t do that. The Assyrian king can’t do that. Only Yehovah Himself could be the one that could go in and say, “Here’s what Nehemia’s thinking. Here’s what’s it Nehemia’s heart. I’m the one that searches it. I’m the one you better be focusing on.” Because He’s the one. There’s no way to hide from Him. There’s no way to… I can say I can be down in the basement. No. He can be everywhere because he’s omnipresent. He can go into my mind, in my heart. And I don’t know, there’s something about that that’s sobering, but also there’s something that makes me want to just worship Him even more, to say He’s that amazing. I mean, He can go into the heart, into the mind, and even the king’s heart is a waterway! You know, you prayed last week, one of the things you prayed is you talked about the leaders and how the leaders could have their hearts changed. God can do that.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: God can do that! You know, that’s amazing.

Nehemia: Both for the good and the bad. They can harden their own heart, as some of them do.

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: As some do. Yes. Can I just read something here from… and I talk about this in my book Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. And I absolutely love this passage. This is a passage that’s changed my life. Can be honest with you? I think early in my walk, I was raised with this idea that we have the truth, and those who don’t have the truth - we’re better than them. That was kind of… and then I said, “The rabbis don’t have the truth, now I’ve got the truth.” So that’s even better, that made me even more arrogant. And in my walk, I realized Yehovah is the judge of all the earth, not me, and I shouldn’t be judging other people. This verse really humbled me. It’s Psalm chapter 44 verses 20 to 22.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: You want to say something.

Keith: I want to say something, Nehemia.

Nehemia: Bevakasha.

Keith: I want you to make sure you bring this, but I have to tell you something.

Nehemia: Yes, sir.

Keith: I’m here with you, and you keep dropping these phrases, and these phrases that you drop just don’t sound like the Nehemia of 12 and 13 years ago. I mean, I just have to say, “my walk,” “in my walk.” What do you mean? That’s our term. What do you mean “in your walk?”

Nehemia: How is that your walk?

Keith: That our... No, no.

Nehemia: No, no. How is that your term? That’s in the Torah. “To walk in the way of Yehovah, don’t turn right or left.”

Keith: I never hear anyone else say these, and you say these things, like “the ministry” and the term, and I just want to tell you something.

Nehemia: I can say in Hebrew if you don’t like the word ministry and say “sherut,” and we talked about lesharet bakodesh, that if I’m going to translate it into English is “ministry.”

Keith: Well, here’s what I want to say. The reason I want to say this is that when we first met 13 years ago, in that 13 years we were probably as opposite as anyone could ever imagine. I mean, the picture of us just shows how opposite we were. [both laughing] And you know we’ve been in this process, but I’ve seen these things happen.

Nehemia: Isn’t that the truth.

Keith: Now, I’m not saying, I’m not saying… Please I want you to get to your Psalm. But I have to tell you something- I’m sitting here and I’m thinking about God, and how amazing He is, and what He’s done in both of our lives. What He’s done in your life and what He’s done in my life, and the way He’s brought change and focus and shift. Ten or eleven years ago, you can say it’s a Hebrew term all you want - Twelve years ago, you’re not coming and saying to me, “You know in my walk I thought…” you just didn’t talk like that, Nehemia. [laughing] So I just have to tell you it’s so refreshing to see, because these are terms that are biblical terms. You’re not pulling this out of your...

Nehemia: My what? [laughing] Let’s move on. Let’s move on quickly.

Keith: A rabbit out of your hat. You don’t have that little hat on.

Nehemia: Oh, rabbit out of the hat. Where’s my hat?

Keith: These are biblical terms, and I want to tell you something, it’s a recapturing… I guess what I wanted to say was this: it’s a recapturing of some of these things that are biblical. “Our walk,” I mean, that’s just… I appreciate that.

Nehemia: Well, I give Yehovah credit for all of it, because just as I prayed for Him to turn the hearts of the leaders, He’s turned my heart. He’s giving me a new spirit and a new heart. And so it’s all on Him.

Keith: Amen. Okay.

Nehemia: So here, Psalm Chapter 40 verses 20 to 21 in the English, verses 21 to 22 in the Hebrew, it says, “If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.”

Keith: Isn’t that the truth.

Nehemia: And the message here, it’s talking in the context about Israel sent out into exile and they’re in a foreign land and they end up, because of their alienation from God out in the foreign land, instead of calling Him Yehovah or God of Israel, they end up calling Him by a false name, by the name of even another god. And even that, He can have grace and mercy on because He can see in our hearts what we intend and what we want to say. And that’s amazing.

To me, this was life-changing, this passage. Because what it means is God has more grace than the doctrines of men. God has more grace than all the denominations. He’s got more mercy than all of the groups and the factions and the boxes that we put people in and we put Him in. He’s bigger than all of that.

Keith: Amen. Wow.

Nehemia: That’s amazing to me. That is wow.

Keith: That is amazing. Well, I don’t mind saying, again, Nehemia, I don’t want to… I actually have one more thing I really want to talk about.

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: But I don’t want to... No, I’m taking to see if there’s anything that you want to talk about?

Nehemia: No, move on.

Keith: Well, no, because moving on is actually in verse 14.

Nehemia: Oh, okay. Is there anything 11 you...? Oh, okay.

Keith: No, please feel free to take your time.

Nehemia: Yes. Let’s see. Like we said… we can - Can we read verse 13?

Keith: Absolutely. Go ahead. I’m looking for something. Go ahead.

Nehemia: All right. So I mentioned my… and this isn’t to do another Ministry Minute, but we’ve got to talk about this. In verse 13 it says, “O Hope of Israel! O Yehovah! All who forsake You shall be put to shame, those in the land who turn from You shall be doomed men, for they have forsaken Yehovah, the Makor of living water, The Fount of living water.” And there’s a play on words there, which is so beautiful in Hebrew and is completely lost in English.

It says here “Hope of Israel,” and the word for “hope of Israel” is “mikveh Israel”, and “mikveh” means hope, but it also is a pool of water, and specifically a pool of water filled by a spring. In Israel you’ll have water oozing out from the aquifer, from deep in the ground, through a crack in the earth, and it will fill up this pool, then that pool will then fill up and flow off and into a channel, into a “nachal”. But the sign that there’s a spring is that the water fills up into a pool, and Yehovah is that “mikveh Israel.”

Keith: Hallelujah.

Nehemia: He gathers up the waters, these living waters that come from Him, and He fills them up into this pool where you can come and drink and live. So He is the hope of Israel. He’s also the water that quenches the thirst of Israel. And I love this, this is just awesome. “All those who leave you will be put to shame,” it says. But that’s another play on words. All those who leave you will be dried out because of what… Could that be the Word of the Week “dried out”? Or I think makor should be the Word of the Week.

Keith: Did we not do makor before? Go ahead. Go ahead and do that.

Nehemia: So makor is Mem-Kuf-Vav-Reish, and that means a source of water, a spring. Do you have a different word you want to do?

Keith: No, I have something I want to say that’s pretty important here, so as soon as you get done waxing on about this, I want to go to the real issue here.

Nehemia: Oh, the real issue. [laughing]

Keith: I want to get to the real issue.

Nehemia: Okay. So Yehovah is the makor. He’s the source of water, Mem-Kuf-Vav-Reish. Actually, modern Israel has a major water company that brings water from the Sea of Galilee down all the way to the Negev, and there are over a million Jews now living in the Negev because of this water project, which is called Mekorot, which is the plural of makor.

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: And it means sources of flowing water, of living water.

Keith: Now, I have a big confession.

Nehemia: Let’s go.

Keith: I’ve got a big announcement for next week, but I have a big confession before it. I’ve gotten some people that will sit and ask me really hard questions, like, “Keith, you’re a pastor and you’ve been with Nehemia for this long, give us the end result.” And so this last verse is one, and I want you to be saved.

Nehemia: You want me to be what?

Keith: I want you to be saved. And then I want you to be saved according to Scripture.

Nehemia: Okay.

Keith: And so I want to know if you and I could come through some common ground right now about salvation, right here in this verse.

Nehemia: Let’s do it. Let’s give it a shot.

Keith: I want to know if we can talk about salvation. I want to look at a verse and I want to...

Nehemia: Finally, after what, 14 years?

Keith: Fourteen years, it’s time!

Nehemia: Or 13 years we’re talking about salvation.

Keith: We’re sitting in the basement. We’re going to talk about salvation, Nehemia. And I want to say something - this is going to be a bit sensitive, and so I need you to put on your most sensitive hat, and I want to put on my most sensitive hat. But after all these years, we now have come to a verse that no matter… maybe you would want to change it, maybe you wouldn’t. I don’t know. I’m going to try to keep it, and I’m looking at the NIV right now, if that’s all right.

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: And I’m going to look at the Hebrew also. And between the two, I want to know if we could come to some common ground on salvation.

Nehemia: We can sure try.

Keith: Can we do that?

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: So what I’d like to do, first of all, is read the verse in the NIV. Would that be okay?

Nehemia: Please. Jeremiah…?

Keith: 17 Verse 14, it says this, “Heal me, O Yehovah, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for You are the one I praise.” Now, I’d like to give you an opportunity to change what that might mean. I mean, if it says here, “save me and I will be saved,” in fact, I’d like you to do something for me.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: I’d like you to read it in Hebrew… in fact, would you be willing to do that?

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: Would you be able to read this phrase in Hebrew? And those that are listening, I want you to see if you get excited like I get excited when I hear these words. Go ahead. Could you do that?

Nehemia: “Refa’eni Yehovah ve’erafe, hoshi’eni ve’evashe’a ki tehilati ata.”

Keith: So when you read that, what does that say to you? I mean, act like it’s 13 years ago and you’ve got your Hebrew Bible, I’ve got my English Bible, and we’re walking around the Old City of Jerusalem.

Nehemia: Oh, well, “Slow down Mr. Methodist. When it speaks here about salvation, it does not mean what your theology says it means. In the Tanakh, salvation is a term that refers to God saving us from danger,” this is what I would have said 13, 14 years ago. “There are only two passages in the Book of Isaiah where it talks about spiritual salvation from sin. Every other place is salvation from destruction, from harm.” This is what I would’ve told you years ago.

Keith: So now, we’re looking at this verse, now could you give me and act like we’re walking around the Old City. You’ve got the Hebrew, and I’ve got my Hebrew Bible this time, too. This time, I’ve got my Hebrew Bible, and...

Nehemia: Can I...

Keith: No, no, hold on just a minute.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: And so now, I want to talk to you about salvation in this verse.

Nehemia: Wait.

Keith: Go ahead.

Nehemia: Wait. So I’m going to do something a little bit different. We both prepared this passage a long time ago, right?

Keith: Absolutely.

Nehemia: I was in San Antonio and had a certain period of time where I knew we were coming to Jerusalem. Everything has to be prepared. We don’t have time.

Keith: Everything, no, we don’t have time to play around.

Nehemia: To play around. Everything has to be ready. And so I wrote myself a whole bunch of copious notes. Can I read you what I wrote on this passage?

Keith: Before you read...

Nehemia: You’ve never seen this and we haven’t discussed it.

Keith: Never discussed it.

Nehemia: Amen?

Keith: And before you read this, I want to say this - as I was preparing, Nehemia, I had a little hiccup. The hiccup was I had to travel over to Africa, and as I was there, every single day, I had to do what I had to do, and so I got some help. I had some people that also looked at the passages with me. I just had to say what a blessing it is that...

Nehemia: Wait, somebody else did your homework? [laughing]

Keith: No, no, no.

Nehemia: What?

Keith: No, not at all. I just have to say this, to my two witnesses out there, that also challenge to get another perspective on it. So I made sure I read through everything myself, I asked other people to read through it, and because, in all seriousness, and I want to say this before you say what you’re going to say…

Nehemia: Yes, sir.

Keith: This is a huge undertaking, to come and say we’ve got 30-plus deals to do in a matter of two weeks.

Nehemia: Yes. They have no idea. 31 episodes.

Keith: I’m sick, there are all sorts of issues, but I say God has really been meeting us.

Nehemia: Absolutely.

Keith: Now, we’ve come to this verse, go ahead and tell me what you had prepared in your notes.

Nehemia: So here’s what I wrote: Healing and salvation can both be physical but also spiritual. Healing can mean medical but also to be healed of sin, specifically when we try to do the right thing but get the ritual wrong, and we’ve actually talked about that. And I wrote here, for example, Hezekiah’s Passover, Hosea 14, and Elijah’s altar on Mount Carmel. We’ve spoken about that before. But what I said 13, 14 years ago was 100% correct - that salvation is physical, but there’s clearly also this spiritual aspect of salvation.

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: And look, that was there all the time. Here’s what I think happens. Let’s be honest.

Keith: Give it to me straight.

Nehemia: We’ve had you Christians - I don’t mean you particularly - but we’ve had the Christians beating us over the head for nearly 2,000 years with Jesus Christ, trying to force him down our throats, and telling us we need salvation. And there is this knee jerk reaction in the Jewish world. “You’re telling us I need salvation? I don’t even recognize that there’s such a thing as salvation in the context that you’re talking about.” And I think what Yehovah has done with me, giving me this new spirit, this new heart… people can’t see Keith right now, but he’s freaking out. What I think Yehovah has done with me is said, “Look, Nehemia…”

And let me share this, early in my walk… early in my ministry, I interacted with some counter-missionaries, and I felt like that’s what I was supposed to do. If I’m going to interact with people, I’ve got the truth, I’ve got to convince them that they’re wrong, and engage in these debates. So what I saw is debates aren’t always the way to find the truth, and that it’s much more productive, rather than engaging in someone with a debate and looking for the arguments that will prove your side right, to put that aside and come before Yehovah in humility and say, “I don’t want to prove myself right, Yehovah. I want to know what the truth is, even if it means that I was wrong about everything I thought.” And I think because I opened my heart to that, Yehovah has given me this new heart and this new spirit where I can come before Him and say, “Okay, yes, there is this physical aspect to these things, but there’s also this spiritual aspect.”

And notice how before I would have said, “Yes, except for those two verses in Isaiah,” which is like the footnote. Well, wait a minute, why are we putting that in the footnote and these other things? Both of these are part of the biblical message. And again, because of this knee jerk reaction, I just felt this wasn’t what I was called to do. I wasn’t called to be the counter-missionary and prove other people wrong, but rather to search for truth and uncover truth, wherever that may lead me.

And that’s been such a blessing, because it’s allowed me to come to these things, and rather than hiding things in the footnotes, I can embrace these things and embrace what Yehovah is doing in my life and in lives of others.

Keith: That is so nice. And I want to thank you so much for that. That’s wonderful, Nehemia. Thank you so much for sharing. Now, let’s get to the real issue here.

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: Okay, Mr. Hebrew Scholar?

Nehemia: What’s the real issue?

Keith: There are two words that are together in 17:14 that I want you to take a look at. They’re right next to each other.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: Now, you spoke it in Hebrew, it’s the fourth and fifth words.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: And the reason that I wanted to take a moment to look at this is because I think sometimes this is where a little bit of the confusion comes in, and it becomes a grammatical issue. It really does become a grammatical issue. So I want to know if we could lean into just a little - we have enough time - can we lean in just a little bit more?

Nehemia: Sure.

Keith: If you were to explain, and I want to bring Bubby Dina into this, if it’s okay.

Nehemia: My mother.

Keith: Your mother, Bubby Dina, because we had a conversation yesterday, and she said something…

Nehemia: No, she almost freaked... She did freak out.

Keith: [laughing] No, she… what she said, she said to me, and she said it the sweetest way. She said, “Keith, we’re afraid you’re going to come here and you’re going to start preaching to us.” And she said this to me.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: And her concern was she had a situation happen where she was somewhere up in the north, by the Sea of Galilee, and she’s there, she’s an Orthodox Jewish woman. Clearly, someone knew.

Nehemia: She’s got her tichel, her little head covering.

Keith: Head covering.

Nehemia: Clearly Orthodox.

Keith: She’s there, and a lady comes up to her, and it broke my heart. I’m just going to say, folks, I might lose you here. People might get frustrated with me. They might say, “Keith...”

Nehemia: “This is what it’s all about.”

Keith: “This is what it’s all about.” But I want to say something that really was hard for me, is she said that a lady came up to her and said, “We’re praying for you, that your eyes will be open and that you will be saved.” And that was all the lady said. And so for her, her point was, when a guy like me comes along, he’s a pastor, surely he’s going to come and hit me over the head.

You know instead what we did? And I really thought this was powerful - she and I talked about our commonality. We even talked about Yeshua in terms of what Yeshua’s ministry was, and where we could find common ground. And it really was a powerful thing. Now, Nehemia, if you would help us out just a little bit.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: If you’d just throw a little Hebrew grammar to us on these two words, what are these two words, and the root of these two words, and how these two words sometimes can get even a little bit confused? I think they can sometimes get a little bit confusing.

Nehemia: Not confusing to me in Hebrew, but okay. [laughing]

Keith: No, not in Hebrew, but no for other people. So can you say what those two words are?

Nehemia: Absolutely.

Keith: Because that’s the word that in the NIV is saying “to be saved.”

Nehemia: Okay. And so this is the Word of the Week, these two words?

Keith: I think so.

Nehemia: “Hoshi’eni ve’evashe’a.” So the first word hoshi’eni has two parts: hoshi’e or hoshi’a, which is “save.” It’s save with an exclamation mark, asking God to save, ni means me. So hoshi’e-ni, “save me.”

Keith: Hoshi’eni. Yes.

Nehemia: “Ve” is “and.” That’s easy. “evashe’a” is “I will be saved.” “E” means, “I will.” “E” is one of the four prefixes of the future in Hebrew. “Evashea,” I will be saved. And it’s very interesting. This is what we call a nifal verb. It is passive. We have active and passive verbs in Hebrew. We have seven conjugations, and there are actually three sets of active and passive. This is a passive verb of the nifal conjugation, that’s the second of the seven.

The first verb, going back to it, hoshi’eni or hoshia-ni is hifil, which is a causative. So really, it literally translates as “cause me to be saved.” “Ve’evashe’a,” “and I will be saved.” And it’s interesting that “va” in evashea because there’s a three-letter root in every Hebrew word. The three-letter root for salvation is Yud-Shin-Ayin. Of course, that’s from… the word for salvation is “yeshu’a” and the verb is lehoshia, hoshia, “to save.” For example, Yehoshua, Joshua, is “Yehovah yoshia,” “Yehovah, He will save.” So hoshi’eni is actually, I guess, an imperative you’d call it. It’s sort of a commandment, but a request “to save” in the hifil. So we’ve got a hifil verb and a nifal verb. The first one’s hifil, the second one’s nifal.

Keith: And they’re right next to each other.

Nehemia: They’re right next to each other. And what you don’t see in either verb is the Yud of the root.

Keith: That’s right.

Nehemia: Which is very interesting. We have Yud-Shin-Ayin, but there’s no Yud. What happened to the Yud? The Yud in both instances turned into a vav. In the first instance, that Vav is in “o” hoshi’eni, hoshia, Hosea is Hoshea, that’s the same Vav. It’s the Yud turned into a Vav. And that Vav functions as a vowel. And then the next word we have the nifal, the Yud turns into a Vav but the Vav is a consonant, evashe’a.

Keith: Exactly, evashe’a.

Nehemia: And there’s actually nothing unusual about this. You can take the word “yalad,” “to give birth,” Yud-Lamed-Dalet, and you’ll see “holid,” is “he gave birth,” actually, it’s “holidah,” “she gave birth.” And “lehivaled” is “to be born.” So you have the same situation there, where the Yud turns into an O in one form of the verb, in the hifil, and in the nifal it turns into a “va,” into a consonant. And I have to think of the name Yehovah when I hear that.

Keith: Exactly.

Nehemia: I know you’re thinking of the name Yeshua.

Keith: No, actually.

Nehemia: But I’m thinking of the name Yehovah because in Yehovah the root is Yud that turns into a Vav. It’s the exact same thing.

Keith: Yes. Actually, what’s really interesting about what you’re saying, I actually think about the fact that the name that he’s carrying points to Yehovah. I actually think about that.

Nehemia: Okay. Yes.

Keith: But what I wanted to ask is a technical question.

Nehemia: Right.

Keith: Do we have another example where we have these two verbs, exactly these two verbs right next to each other? And the reason that I said that I wanted to stop and look at this verse and talk about the word “to be saved” in the NIV, and then also knowing what its original focus is, of the words, I just think it’s a really phenomenal grammatical connection - “save me and I will be saved.” I mean literally, that’s what it says. If You save me, I will be saved. And in my prayer is that I would be saved. My prayer is that you would be saved. My prayer is that we all would have that experience of true salvation…

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: … of an internal change that would affect who we are in our lives externally. So I wanted to see if there was another exact example of those two verbs being right next to each other.

Nehemia: Well, here’s an interesting one - Jeremiah 11:12. Here’s how it’s translated in the JPS, at the end of the verse it says, “but they will not be able to rescue them in their time of disaster.” [laughing] Like, what? It says, “Vehoshia lo yoshi’u,” “and they shall surely not save.” So there we’ve got the verb yasha within two words of each other, actually. And then we have in Nehemiah chapter 9 verse 27, “In Your abundant compassion gave them saviors who saved them from the power of their adversaries.” So it’s, “He gave them moshi’im ve’yoshi’um.” So there we’ve got the word...

Keith: I just think that’s cool that those things come right out, and we can actually talk about that.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: And again, it was a setup. People say that we talked about salvation, and we actually did.

Nehemia: Yes.

Keith: And that’s an example where we could be talking about the physical deliverance that we need, but also we do, many people, we need that spiritual deliverance.

Nehemia: I want to bring one more, which is 1 Chronicles 16:35. It says in the JPS, “Declare,” is what we should say, “Deliver us, O God, our deliverer, and gather us and save us from the nations, to acclaim Your holy name,” isn’t that awesome? “To glory in Your praise.”

Let me read you a different translation out of curiosity. What does the King James have? It says, “And say ye, ‘Save us, O God of our salvation,’” which is what it says in Hebrew, “Hoshi’enu Elohei ish’enu.”

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: It’s exactly the word we saw, hoshi’enu, and we had hoshi’eni, “me,” and here’s it’s hoshi’enu, “save us,” the hifil. “Elohei ish’enu,” the God of our salvation, of our yeshu’a.

Keith: Amen. Well, that’s what I wanted to do, it catches people’s attention. And let’s just be really clear, we believe that God is the one that does the saving. Meaning, He’s the one that is going to do what He does, and may that all of us be saved. May it be that we all are saved. Amen?

Nehemia: Amen. Am I praying, or are you?

Keith: It’s my turn, actually.

Nehemia: I think I’m going to... may I? And you can do the next one?

Keith: You’re going to take…? Okay, go ahead.

Nehemia: No, I’ve got...

Keith: Only if you’re going to pray a prayer of salvation.

Nehemia: I will pray. That’s exactly what I want to do.

Keith: Okay, go ahead.

Nehemia: You inspired me here. Yehovah, moshi’enu. Yehovah, our savior. Hoshi’enu, save us, Elohei ish’enu, O God of our salvation. Yehovah, I ask You to give us Your salvation and Your healing, both the physical salvation and the physical healing, and that spiritual salvation and that spiritual healing. That spiritual salvation that in my tradition we want to stick in the footnotes and not really deal with, and the physical salvation that other people… they overlook it and miss that aspect of it.

Yehovah, here in Israel, we experience the need for both physical and spiritual salvation. We’re constantly here, in this part of the world, in danger of the destruction that could come upon us, and we need Your salvation.

Keith: Yes.

Nehemia: And there are dangers that are spiritual everywhere in the world, and we need your salvation for that. So Yehovah, I ask for Your salvation. El yeshu’ati, evtach velo efchad. O God of my salvation, I will trust in You, I will not fear. I’m not afraid, Yehovah, anymore, what other people are going to say when I speak about salvation. There was a time where I had to be very careful with my words, or I thought I had to be careful, because people hear me say those words and say, “No, those aren’t the words of our people. Those are the words of some other people.” If I look in Scripture and see those words, Yehovah, I don’t care what anybody says about what I say. They’re Your words. They’re not the words of my people or Keith’s people. These are the words that You give us in Scripture to pray for salvation, to pray for Your healing, to pray for Your guidance in our walk, Yehovah. I ask that you give that to me. I come before you in humility and say I don’t have all the answers like I thought I used to. I don’t have all the correct doctrine like I thought I used to have. All I have is a love and desire deep in my heart for You, to honor Your word, and to honor Your name, and to ask humbly for Your salvation. Amen.

Keith: Amen.

Thank you for listening to Prophet Pearls with Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. For more information, please visit BFAInternational .com.