“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant.
- as in the days of old (this can only be the years prior to the flood: Job 8:8; Isaiah 46:9-10),
- and as in former years (prior to the exile to Babylon).
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. For I am the LORD, I change not…Even from the days of your fathers [before the flood and Shem, Eber, Abraham, etc.) ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3)
The thousands of baked clay tablets found in archeological digs in Mesopotamia survived submersion in water. The Euphrates was in fact known simply as “the flood.” It makes one contemplate the possibility that the pagan gods who believed and trembled at Noah’s preaching of the coming flood, but also believed in their power to survive it, specifically developed the clay tablets as the medium to transmit their esoteric knowledge through the world-wide flood to humanity to restore their rule.
Well, hey, they did just that, didn’t they?
Interesting that throughout all ages the elite have never stopped identifying themselves with the “glorious” pagan theocracies.
Their splendor is a tribute to the evil gods who empowered them to slaughter in endless wars and amass wealth through, pillage, enslavement of the masses, and impoverishment of other peoples through theft of their resources.
In stark contrast to the Fertile Crescent’s multiple conflicting historical records, the accounts of the God of the Bible and his people have remained consistently reliable and validated throughout thousands of years of uncountable discoveries and fulfilled prophecies that God can be trusted to stay true to his word.
Redemption or Wrath.
“Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the LORD God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” (Isaiah 48:16-17)
The clearest support of the deduction that Moses re-established the pure worship of holy God rather than a brand-new religion is the consistent pattern documented in scripture of mankind falling away into apostasy followed by consistent response of God’s prophets RE-minding and RE-introducing the original way to approach a holy God,
This is documented in the books of the prophets from Genesis through Malachi, but provided in greatest detail in the account of Ezra who, like Moses, led an exodus, this time from Babylonian exile.
Israeli philosopher and Biblical scholar Yehezkel Kaufmann said “With the exile, the religion of Israel comes to an end and Judaism begins.”
Arab and Jewish sources show that the Rosh Galut / Exil-arch / legitimate Son of David ruler of the Exiles continued to exist for another 1,500 years in what is now Iraq, only ending in the eleventh century.
The Jews of the vassal state of Israel had a position similar to the exilarch, the nasi (“prince”), which was at times recognized by the Roman government. In fact, Rabbi Yehuda Ha-nasi, “Judah the Prince” (c. 135 CE–217 CE), remarked that if the exilarch Mar Huna were to come to Israel, he would accord him great honor, but he would not relinquish the office of the nasi.
And didn’t that happen when the Sanhedrin refused to relinquish their office to the legitimate Son of David, but trusted in their political alliance with the Roman Empire’s appointed king to remain in power.
In other words, he was a billionaire real estate developer.
- The port of Caesarea Palaestinae on the coast between Joppa (Jaffa),
- and Haifa, which was afterward to become the capital of Roman Palestine.
- Herodium where he built a great palace.
- In Jerusalem he built the fortress of Antonia, portions of which may still be seen.
- And a magnificent palace (of which part survives in the citadel).
- His most grandiose creation was the Temple, which he wholly rebuilt. The great outer court, 35 acres (14 hectares) in extent, is still visible as Al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf, the Muslim mosque
- He also embellished foreign cities—Beirut, Damascus, Antioch, Rhodes—and many towns.
- He patronized the Olympic Games, whose president he became.
Herod undoubtedly saw himself…as the protector of Jewry outside of Palestine, whose Gentile hosts he did all in his power to conciliate. This is a huge clue to the succeeding actor in this role during current events.
What is needed is the equivalent of Ezra who re-established the true worship of YHVH in Jerusalem, countering the corruption of Judaism.
He is also called a scribe, well-versed in the law of Moses (7:6), indicating Ezra’s dedication to the study of the Torah, which he sought to make the basic rule of life in the restored community. It was in religious and cultic reform rather than in political affairs that Ezra made his mark as a postexilic leader. Jewish tradition holds him in great esteem. The apocryphal 2 Esdras, sometimes included as an appendix to the Vulgate, where it is known as 4 Esdras, transforms him into a prophet and visionary. The Talmud regards him as a second Moses, claiming that the Torah would have been given to Israel through Ezra had not Moses preceded him.
He gave to his people a cohesion and spiritual unity which helped to prevent the disintegration of the small Jewish community settled in the province of Judah. Had it not been for the intransigence of Ezra and of those who adopted his ideal, it is doubtful that Judaism would have so effectively resisted Hellenism in later centuries. Ezra set the tone of the postexilic community, and it was characterized by fidelity to the Torah, Judaism’s authentic way of life.
Faith in the word of God has always been the power of salvation from the curse of sin and death, experienced as destructive forces now and eternal damnation to come.
“Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies [sin and death] might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,” (Luke 1:67-77)
Kingdom Come 