Part 5

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Isaiah Ben Amoz
Mid-Eighth century B.C.E 

Bet 12:3 Now יהוה had said to Avram, Get out of your country, and from your mishpacha, and from your abba’s bayit, to a land that I will show you: And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a bracha: 3 And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all mishpachot of the earth be mingled (“Va’avarechah mevarachecha umekalelecha a’or ve’nivrechu vecha kol mishpechot ha’adamah”. 

Contemporary scholars, lacking faith, have divided the book of Isaiah into three sections:

1. to Isaiah of Jerusalem (ch. 1-39),
2. to a prophet at the time of the exile (Deutero Isaiah ch.40-55)
3. and to a post exilic prophet (the Third Isaiah ch. 56-66).

Why? Because they have trouble reconciling the last half of book as the predictions of Isaiah. You see, oracles of doom begin the book but themes of consolation (beginning Ch. 40) end the book with the return from exile over 2 centuries later.
Chs, 1-39 are addressed to the nation during the Assyrian invasions (740-700BCE), chs.40-55 to the exiles in Babylon (600-539 BCE) and chs, 56-66 to the community after its return to the land (539-500 BCE).

What’s so hard for contemporary scholars to believe is that Isaiah miraculously prophecies the naming of Cyrus more than a century beforehand (ch. 44:28) and then he tops that by predicting Yeshua’s birth by the virgin (ch.7), death by crucifixion and subsequent resurrection (ch. 53).
Some would even assert he predicted the false flag on 911 in ch.9:8.

John 12:37 But though He (Yeshua) had done so many nisim before them, yet they believed not on Him: 38 That the saying of Yeshayahu the navi might be fulfilled, which he spoke saying vuvh, (Is 53:1“who has believed our report? And to whom has the Arm of the Master vuvh been revealed?” )39 Therefore they could not believe, because Yeshayahu said again, 40 (Is 6:10 “They have blinded their eyes, and hardened their levavot; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their levavot, and return, and I would heal them.”) 41 These things said Yeshayahu, when he saw His tifereth, and spoke of Him. 

John has no problem attributing “Proto-Isaiah” (Is. 6:10) and “Deutero Isaiah” (Is. 53:1) simply to the prophet Isaiah!

Isaiah 66. 

Isaiah served יהוה in a role as covenant prosecutor. His messages consisted of charges, condemnation and judgments as he declares YHWH’s curses on Israel, Judah and the nations. Isaiah is summoned to represent the heavenly court in Jerusalem’s earthly court. Israel and Judah had become like the Gentiles, they had lost all vision of YHWH’s kingdom of righteousness and had tried to establish their own righteousness within their own kingdom.

Romans 10:3 3 For they being ignorant of vuvh’s tzedakah, go about to establish their own tzedakah, 12 have not submitted themselves to the tzedakah of vuvh. 4 For Moshiach is the actual goal of the Torah for an eternal tzadik standing to everyone that believes. (you can’t get an eternal tzadik standing through the Levitical BoL) 5 For Moshe describes the tzedakah that comes from the Torah: That the man who does those things shall live by them. 6 But the tzedakah that is of emunah speaks in this manner… 

Isaiah 66 ends with a vision from the heavenly court where there’s covenant restoration within YHWH’s kingdom of righteousness. So if we’re right about the BoC being restored then we should see evidence of it here shouldn’t we? If we’re wrong, then we should see a return to the status quo and a precise reinstatement of Levitical Torah. One or the other – correct?

Before we start, lets be clear, there is no Levitical Priesthood in the Torah! Why did Korach – who was a Levite try and hijack the priesthood if he was already entitled to it?
Aaron>Ithamar>Eliazer.

General Levites were not admitted into the priesthood but served as laborers to the priesthood! The tripartite division of utopian messianism where Isaiah’s universalist vision of ecumenicalism triumphs over all the logical and national divisions.

Isaiah 66:18 For I knowing their works and their thoughts: shall come, and I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see My tifereth. 19 And I will put an ot on them, and I will send some of them as survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tuval, and Yavan, to the coastlands far off, that have not heard of My fame, neither have seen My tifereth; and they shall declare My tifereth among the Gentiles. 20 And they shall bring all your brothers for an offering to יהוה out of all nations גּוֹיgoy upon horses, and on mirkavot, and on litters, and upon wagons, and upon swift beasts, to My kadosh mountain Yahrushalayim, says vuvh, as the children of Yisrael bring an offering in a clean vessel into the Bayit of YHWH 21 Mingled” לקה “laqach” יהוה among them la-kohanim la-leviyim, says vuvh. ‘laqach kohen leviyiy amar 

1Peter 1:10 “of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time the spirit of Messiah who was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Messiah and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, NOT TO THEMSELVES, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel..” 

Peter told us that the prophets of old didn’t write for their time and their benefit, but their writings were for our admonition.
The truths of what those prophets wrote were not revealed to those prophets, such as Isaiah. They testified of the sufferings of Yeshua and the transformations that he alone could usher in!

The opening of Isaiah 66:1 “no earthly temple can contain יהוה” is balanced with its !יהוה conclusion, “to the heavens and the earth” – a new Creation by יהוה
The visionary temple is a place of universal worship.

We know the priesthood under Melchizedek is very different from what was under the law (Book of the Law). For under the law one family (Aaronic) from one tribe (Levi) exclusively was admitted to the priesthood and the Gentiles, as unclean, were so far from having it in their power to discharge that priesthood that they were forbidden to enter into the temple!

Yet here in Isaiah 66 the Gentiles are elevated by YHWH to the highest honor. Now unclean and polluted nations are reckoned to be a holy people (as in Exodus19) all are admitted inside (V.19).This then must be speaking after Messianic Reformation when the Aaronic priesthood would be changed and cease. Because under the Book of the Law the Aaronic priesthood didn’t admit Gentiles or any other tribe but Levi.

Numbers 18:7 Therefore you and your sons with you shall shomer your kohen’s office for all things pertaining to the altar, and inside the veil; and you shall serve: I have given your kohen’s office to you as a gift for service: and the ger that comes near shall be put to death.
V.22 Neither must the children of Yisrael from now on come near the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die. 

Deuteronomy 23:1 He that is wounded in the stones, or has his private member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of vuvh. A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of vuvh; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into
the congregation of vuvh 

In Isaiah 66 we find non-Israelites in the priestly service unseen since the mixed multitude (Exodus 12) at the Book of the Covenant mountain (Exodus 19).

In a Book of the Law reality none but those from the tribe of Levi could be taken into, in a literal sense! But here, Gentiles are said to be taken as such, so it can’t be a literal Book of the Law interpretation. It has to be a literal Book of the Covenant reality after Messianic Reformation and as such it’s talking about the Gentiles coming up to the temple – “all לקה “your brethren” (V.20) –all tribes together as priests (as in Exodus 19) “mingled “laqach” (V. 21) with the Levites (a tribe) – all one (in Messiah, Galatians 4:28, 1 Peter 2:5). V21: “And from them likewise I will take some la-kohanim la-leviyim, said יהוה”(MT).

There is no conjunction “and” in the text! It doesn’t say (KJV) ‘and I will also take some of them…..’
It doesn’t say “for priests and for Levites” that would be, “le-kohanim u-le-leviyim” which does not appear in the text but is the added KJV translation.

Mingled” לקה “laqach” among them la-kohanim la-leviyim, says vuvh. ‘laqach kohen leviyiy amar יהוה

Genesis 12:3 Now vuvh had said to Avram, Get out of your country, and from your mishpacha, and from your abba’s bayit, to a land that I will show you: And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a bracha: 3 (“Va’avarechah mevarachecha umekalelecha a’or ve’nivrechu vecha kol mishpechot ha’adamah”. 

And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that
curses you: and in you shall all mishpachot of the earth be mingled 

In the Hebrew from Genesis 12 above, reading from right to left, we come to the fifth word, which is “v’nivrechu.”

The Hebrew word translated as “blessed”, is the Hebrew word “ve nivrechu ” “ve Nivrechu – of all the times “blessing” is intended the word generally used is “barak”, “yivrechu” “yevarech” or some other variant of “barak.”

After יהוה uses the other forms of the word for “blessing” like “Va’avarechah” (and I will bless) and “mevarachecha (ones blessing you) He switches within the same verse and uses “nivrechu” describing specifically how He will fulfill all His promises to Abram.
We have to dig down below the surface of the root word bet- resh-kaf or “barawk” used most often to mean “blessing.” to find this gem.

“Nivrechu”appears only three times in theTanach at Genesis 12:3, 18:18 and 28:14 and all three times it speaks of how Avraham will affect the nations of the earth through the Malki Tzedik covenants of promise!

The verb “ve-nivrechu” in Genesis 12:3 is related to the root “barak” (bet-resh-kaf) as in the term “mavreek” meaning to “intermingle” or “graft.”” The Hebrew word “nivrechu” is the niphal conjugation of the root word “barak.” Literally it can read: “and in you all nations will be born through mixing.” The Art Scroll series agrees. In five places,this word is translated “mixed” or “grafted” by the rabbis (Keliam 7:1, Sotah 43A). The Hebrew for “blessed” is usually “yivrechu” not “nivrechu” using the first letter
“yud” rather than the “nun”.

Paul frames the section in Galatians 3:29 where he just gets done speaking about the BoL 3:10 with V.29 And if you are Moshiach’s, then are you Avraham’s zera, and heirs according to the promise. 

This confirms the mingling (nivrechu, laqach) where he calls the gentiles the grafted-in physical seed of Abraham, a direct fulfillment of the “ve-nivrechu” blessing of multiplicity in Genesis 12:3 and the “laqach” vision of Isaiah!

Isaiah envisions the fulfillment of the “ve-nivrechu” / “laquach” mingling of the Gentiles together with the Levite peoples, those who always assisted, but now all are as one, they come in equality before יהוה. This can only be a return to the Malki-Tzedik reality with the nations joining the priests (Exodus 19). Selah!

Now called “The Holy People” (‘am ha-kodesh) the covenant nation is promised by יהוה a restoration of a title first granted at Sinai and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 19:6) “holy nation” (goy kadosh).