ToDays of Messiah Part Two
Vayeilekh "And went"
Deuteronomy 31:1-30
Isaiah 55:6-56:8
Psalm 65
Revelation 6:5-6 & Matthew 20:1-16
•The “perfect weight” of the black horse rider
• The righteous
•The equality of the Messianic redemption.
•Reasons for destruction.
In Vayeilekh, there are some key passages that hint to the mission of the black horse rider in Revelation. While Creation Gospel Workbook Two focuses on the festival season symbolized by the barley, wheat, oil, and wine, there is a clue in the prices that links the reader back to the Torah portion. Let’s look at a couple of passages in Vayeilekh and their summary points:
- Adonai Himself will cross over before the Israelites.
- Adonai Himself will destroy the occupiers of the Land of Israel so that the tribes may receive their portions.
-
“The Lord your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Dt 31:3-6)
The portion goes on to throw in what seems to be a strange addition:
- The shmittah year functions as a debt re-set in the Torah. When it falls with a Yovel, it functions as a property re-set.
- The King read the Sefer Devarim to all.
- All assembled, from least to greatest, hear the Torah according to their ability.
-
“And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.” (Dt 31:10-13)
Many passages in rabbinic literature divide the complete spectrum of time into:
- first this world (Olam HaZeh)
- then the days of the messiah (Yamot Mashiach), and
- the culmination is the world to come (Olam Haba) or the future to come (Atid Lavo).*
*“All the prophets prophesied about the days of the Messiah but concerning the world to come 'no eye has seen.’” (Is 64:3) [Sanhedrin 99a]
Isaiah’s prophecy suggests that it will occur in the Days of Messiah, the thousand-year reign of Yeshua, who will be the Lamp of the Holy City Jerusalem. Isaiah 60:22 details the final redemption, bringing in the contextual partners of the supernatural Lamp that drives away the darkness (death) so that the righteous may enjoy perpetual light (life) along with the idea that the time could be brought more quickly than anticipated: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Jn 22:20)
If Isaiah is only describing the Days of Messiah’s reign, and not the World to Come, which no human eye has seen, then the visions of Heaven in John’s Revelation and Isaiah describe the interim existence of the righteous. What will follow these days is yet to be revealed, an Eighth “Day.”
“No longer will you have the sun for light by day,
Nor will the moon give you light for brightness;
But you will have the LORD as an everlasting light,
And your God as your glory.
Your sun will no longer set,
Nor will your moon wane;
For you will have the LORD as an everlasting light,
And the days of your mourning will be over.
Then all your people will be righteous;
They will possess the land forever,
The branch of My planting,
The work of My hands,
That I may be glorified.
The smallest one will become a thousand,
And the least one a mighty nation.
I, the LORD, will bring it about quickly in its time.” (Is 60:19-22)
Isaiah’s prophecy declares the Days of Messiah, or Yamot Mashiach. The righteous enjoy a supernal light at all times. Revelation hints that this light is enjoyed by those in the Holy City. All Israel will be righteous. They will share in the Land forever. The smallest will become a thousand, and the least a mighty nation, hinting that Israel will achieve a kind of equality. The population of Israel therefore achieves a balance in spiritual benefits, an inheritance of the assigned portions in the Garden, and productivity.
The following passage in Revelation is usually viewed only in terms of judgment. We want to look at another aspect of the Black Horse rider, which is the balances in his hand:
-
When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.” (Re 6:5-6)
The Black Horse triggers a fear of economic judgment. Barley represents a judgment associated with the time of Pesach, and wheat the time of Shavuot.
Notice something curious, however. The price is the same for both wheat and barley. It is the amounts of grain that are different, but the price is one denarius.
-
Denarius = "containing ten." A Roman silver coin. It took its name from it being equal to ten "asses." It was the principal silver coin of the Roman empire. From the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, it would seem that a denarius was then the ordinary pay for a day's wages. (Mt. 20:2-13)
The denarius represents the number ten as well as the wages earned by an unskilled laborer for a day’s work. The denarius purchases three quarts of barley or one quart of wheat. The price is the same. Choinix (χοῖνιξ, choy-neeks) is translated as “quart,” and is an amount the average man would eat in a day in dry measure.
The price of the oil and wine was not to be touched yet, for the chag of Sukkot is the time of oil and wine. Yeshua told the parable of the denarius and the vineyard:
-
“…Now when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group to the first.’ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And so when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day’s work and the scorching heat.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go; but I want to give to this last person the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ So the last shall be first, and the first, last.” (Mt 20:1-16)
Yeshua’s teaching point for this parable was that the denarius “pay” was for a day’s wages, no matter what time the workers were hired. The least and greatest became equal.
Sometimes folks like us complain about folks who are just “hanging out” in their faith, but not working. What will we say when they receive the same “pay” as those who have toiled in the commandments when it was scorching hot? When it was hard to find other folk like us, “strangers” to the covenant keeping Shabbat and learning to keep the Covenant of Israel? Will we complain if they enjoy the same workday wage at the resurrection, the Bread of Life from the dead? Or will we be glad that the owner of the vineyard sought them out and called them to work, and that they responded?
Sometimes when people don’t see what we see, it’s because they’ve not yet received that specific call. It doesn’t mean they won’t ever be invited to the vineyard! Let the Owner of the vineyard of Israel determine their readiness to labor. Perhaps He knew that if He called them sooner, they wouldn't endure the Day. The Master knows how to keep His own alive.
Now the haftorah selection for Vayeilekh makes perfect sense. In Isaiah 55, we read these amazing verses:
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from his people”;
and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant,
I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name
better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,
“I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”
Yeshua emphasized this house of prayer for all nations who desired a portion in the House of the Holy City, beginning with a desire to choose Shabbat and the covenant. “You who hear prayer, to You all mankind comes.” (Ps 65:2) Those who seek daily bread will find spiritual equality within the Body of Messiah, where neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek matter. All measures of resurrection are the same. Does this mean all receive the same reward? Other parables suggest not, but we don't labor in order to receive more riches. We labor for repentance and return, and then the owner of the vineyard will award responsibilities and rewards as He sees fit.
Now to the mystery of the denarius and the daily bread. When Joseph sends his brothers to retrieve Jacob for safety in the Land of Goshen, he said:
- “And do not concern yourselves with your property, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.” (Ge 45:20)
This is similar to the commandment of going up to the Holy City to celebrate the feasts. Israelites are not to worry about their property, for if Adonai Himself conquered the Land, then He assures them He will watch over their property while they worship. Likewise, Joseph didn’t want his brothers to worry about their property in the Land of Israel. Even in their Egyptian absence, the Land wasn’t going anywhere. When we understand that Israel is not just a natural land, but a physical land representing the Garden of Eden hovering just above it, it makes sense. All Israel returns debt-free to their inheritance portions in the shmittah/Jubilee years. And then Joseph sends:
-
“And to his father he sent the following: ten male donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and sustenance for his father on the journey.” (45:23)
“The best of all the land of Egypt” is thought to be a prophecy of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt at the Exodus. Ten is the symbolic number of a full congregation. (*Nu 14:37, 35; Ge 18:32)
The "exodus bread" and the "best" may seem like disparate elements, but perhaps there is a connection. The vineyard is Israel. From Rosh HaShanah until Yom HaKippurim ten days later, there is opportunity for the work of repentance in Israel. On the first day, Rosh HaShanah, one may be written in the Book of Life. Ten days later, almost “touching” the eleventh hour, one may still be written in the Book of Life. We are judged as individuals on Rosh HaShanah, and as a collective, a nation, on Yom HaKippurim. Together we rejoice on Sukkot. One minyan, ten. Those who do the work of repentance even in the last hour of Yom HaKippurim may receive the Bread of Life in the eleventh hour.
Joseph is a prophetic of Messiah ben Yosef, the suffering servant who draws Israel into Egypt to leave their property in the Land. They are not to worry about their property, for they will not lose the “best,” which is their descendants who will leave at the Exodus. The “minyan,”* or tested congregation, will return to the Land.
Jewish tradition looks for “two” types messiahs, one the suffering servant of Messiah ben Yosef/bar Ephraim descended from Joshua, and one descended from David, Messiah ben David. The sages speculate:
-
“Two deliverers shall there be to deliver you, Messiah bar David and Messiah bar Ephraim, who are like to Moses and Aaron, the sons of Jochebed...And they fed the people of the house of Israel, in their righteousness, forty years in the wilderness, with manna and with fat fowls and the waters of the well of Miriam.” - Targum to the Song of Songs 4§5 and 7§4.
-
“It may be implied that the two Messiahs, like Moses and Aaron, will miraculously provide food and drink for Israel.”
So how will the Messiah be identified? The Bread of Life, like the manna in the wilderness! And water! Yeshua stood up on the last great day of Sukkot and declared himself the source of Living Water. As the Bread of Life, remember the strange quality of the manna in the wilderness: it was always equal, yet fulfilled every appetite, no matter how great or small.
-
This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Everyone gather as much as he will eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’” The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. When they measured it by the omer, the one who had gathered much did not have too much, and the one who had gathered little did not have too little; everyone gathered as much as he would eat. Moses said to them, “No one is to leave any of it until morning.” (Ex 16:16-19)
The collection number was according to the number of people in the tent. Even though they had different appetites, miraculously, the measure for each person was the same, one omer.
These instructions are reminiscent of the Pesach lamb, which was not to be left over until morning, and the sacrifice was to be shared. Each person who ate, whether a morsel or a plate, was equally saved and redeemed by the Lamb. The denarius bought only as much wheat as a man could eat in a day. With this principle, though, the barley (of envy, animal food) would balance out in the scale. The message is that it would end up being only one measure.
-
This shall be his land as a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.” ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Enough, you princes of Israel; get rid of violence and destruction, and practice justice and righteousness. Revoke your evictions of My people,” declares the Lord GOD. You shall have accurate balances, an accurate ephah, and an accurate bath. The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity, so that the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; their standard shall be according to the homer.” (Ezekiel 45:7-11)
We don't get to decide who belongs in the Garden and who doesn't! We don't serve eviction notices for late workers. Strangely, a chomer is the same Hebrew root as chamor, a donkey. An omer was 1/10 of an ephah.
What John sees in the message of the Black Horse is something with which he would have been familiar in Jewish expectation concerning the Days of Messiah.
-
Equal measures. The settlement of our Holy Land in general, and the construction of Jerusalem in particular must be according to the principle of equal [balanced/ accurate] measures for everyone. According to our Sages of blessed memory, Mashiach ben David will not come until all the measures/ prices are equal. Yet another interpretation by them is that Mashiach ben David will not come until all the rates are accurately balanced (Sanhedrin 98a). See the commentary of our Sages on equally measured gardens (Baba Batra 75b; and the Tosafot there). This, too, is included in the assignment of the Gaon as expressed in the verse: [Deut. 25:14] “your house should not have two different weights for measurement, a large one and a small one, ” which is immediately followed by: [Deut. 25:15] “a perfect and just weight you should have.” The Gaon explained to us that the term “in your house” refers to Eretz Israel, as it states: “in order that your days be long upon the Land, etc.” Afterwards it states, “that the Lord your God gives you.” Likewise with respect to a built-up Jerusalem: It states, [Ps. 122:7] “peace be within your walls, ” translated by Onkelos as “peace regarding your possessions.”
In conclusion, the message of the Black Horse may be troubling. His words suggest a crashing worldwide economy. The day’s work only brings a day’s bread. This crashing economy is prophesied as heralding the Yamot Mashiach, the Days of Messiah. Adonai is crossing over Himself to bring us into the Land of our inheritance. Weights and measures are being made equal. He will equalize the “gardens” of Israel, and so Ezekiel’s prophecy of tribal boundaries is much different than in the days of Joshua and Caleb. It looks more like straight, horizontal lines across the Land. Yes, tribulation will bring a day’s bread only, but to Israel what daily bread it is! In these troubled time, aren’t you turning to the Word more than ever before? Hasn’t it become the priority of your life?
As we relinquish more and more of the things that make us feel secure, it is our opportunity to instead cling to the promise of Messiah. Don’t worry about your property. Maybe your natural property will suffer loss, but not your spiritual inheritance and your portion in the Land. Your portion of resurrection in the Garden is safe and sound, awaiting your return, whether you do so at the first hour or nearly the eleventh (please don’t wait that long).
Whether you’re still eating barley, struggling with the animal nature, or eating the wheat of the Word in growing spiritual discipline, you are able to pick up your portion each day. The more you grow into the wheat, the less it takes to satisfy the animal appetite, the more you are satisfied you are with less in the natural world and crave more from the spiritual world. Barley was considered animal food in ancient times, not just people food! Nobody feeds good wheat to beasts, only the straw!
When we feast upon the daily Bread, then the oil of gladness and wine of joy at Sukkot are just around the corner, and that joy will not be “touched.”
Rejoice in the Torah this Sukkot. Eat the Bread of Life and drink from the Living Water. That's TODAY of Messiah!
Chag sameach!
