After hearing the voice of God, the test upon Adam and Eve was a choice between belief or unbelief, faithfulness or disloyalty, righteousness or crookedness. Choosing to shema God’s voice produced abundance and life. Disregarding the words of God brought lack and the curse of death. Even though exiled outside of Eden, YHWH exhorted the Israelites that He was setting before them the choice of life and death, blessing and cursing, good and evil, and commanded they choose life (Deu. 30:15, 19). Life is the Torah’s blessing, and death is the Law’s curse. There is a curse of the Law, not because the Law is bad, but because living in the way of law-breaking produces death.

The covenantal design was to bring humanity out of exile from God’s Presence and to plant us into the intimacy of His holy consuming fire, absent from loneliness and failure. The exodus of Israel necessitated a revelation of the covenant God, YHWH. To know God means we hear His voice. At Mount Sinai, YHWH came down as a consuming fire, and all Israel heard the thunderous voice of God. To remain in the Presence of a holy God required Israel to live by certain principles, the Decalogue. The Ten Commandments direct how we love God and each other. Leviticus 26 lists the blessings for obedience and curses for transgressions, the tabernacle system itself becoming the means to continue living in the light of His face. Yom haKipporim deals with the curse of death.

Before Israel entered the land, YHWH reminded His nation of the great name He had made for Himself in bringing them out of Egypt to His holy mountain by a mighty outstretched hand. He brought them out by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, and great terrors that they might know that YHWH Himself is God and there is none other besides Him. Out of heaven, YHWH let them hear His voice that He might instruct them. On earth, He showed them His great fire, and they heard His words out of the midst of the fire. Because YHWH is the God of heaven above and on earth beneath, we must keep His statutes and His commandments so that it may go well with us and our children (Deu. 4:32-40). Ignoring God’s voice, a generation of Israelites perished in the wilderness because of rebellion and failed to enter the Promised Land (Psa. 95:8-11). Moses commanded the law be inscribed on large stones after crossing the Jordan (Deu. 27:1-3), and when they came to Shechem, Israel pronounced the blessings for obedience from Mount Gerizim and the curses for disobedience from Mount Ebal (Deu. 27-29). Additionally, they were to read the Book of the Law every seven years at Sukkot so that all Israel could hear and live in the land (Deu. 31:10).

After Israel broke the covenant in the golden calf incident, Moses brought down a second set of Decalogue tablets on the Day of Atonements (see Blog 107) and placed them inside the Ark of the Covenant. In Zechariah’s sixth vision (137 × 10²), corresponding to the sixth Feast of YHWH, the Day of Atonements (3 × 137), a colossal flying scroll, the size of the Tabernacle’s dimensions, went out before the whole earth, written in large font for all to see. On one side was the third commandment, “Do not carry the name of YHWH your El in vain,” representing how to love God (commandments 1-4)¹. On the other side was the eighth commandment, “Do not steal,” representing how to love our neighbor (commandments 5-10)². The scroll entered houses bringing the curse upon those oppressing their fellow humans and misrepresenting the Name of YHWH until they were consumed with the timber and stones. All those unbelieving who have not come into YHWH’s light cleansed through Yom haKippurim and experienced transformation will die in their sins, the curse of the Law.

Before YHWH’s fierce anger and curse came upon them, the prophet Zephaniah encouraged Israel to sift through every thought, turning back to a way of life, obedient to the voice of God (see Blog 96). To analyze or examine carefully, sift, sort out, and extract the good part is the process of threshing. Through our humble submission (`anah) on Atonements, we allow God’s fire to burn away the chaff, the ways of death, winnowing us and removing what is useless, unwanted, and of no value. The temple was built on a rock threshing floor, so the wind (Spirit) winnowed the crushed stalks of grain. What was left after threshing (dosh) is holy (qadosh) and new or renew (khadash). “The winnowing process was also used figuratively to picture the judicial function of discriminating between good and evil and destroying what is evil (e.g., Pro. 20:8, 26, Jer. 15:7; 51:2; cf. Mat. 3:12 par).”³ YHWH warned that if we hear the words of the curse but bless ourselves in our hearts, thinking to have peace by following the stubborn dictates of our hearts (worshiping other gods), the curse will settle upon us, and YHWH will blot out our names from under heaven (Deu. 29:18-20). Three times the Book of Hebrews warns, “Today, if you will hear His voice,” and “Beware, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God” (Heb. 3:7, 15; 4:7). Until the second exodus is completed, the whole creation groans under bondage and waits to be free from the curse of disobedience, from brokenness, isolation, and death (Rom. 8:5-6; 22-23).

Progressing from the former covenant to the latter covenant, from external law to internal law, involves the indwelling work of the Spirit tabernacling within the heart of humans. Believing and being “in Him” or “in His body tent,” the newly resurrected Yeshua-Tabernacle, delivers us from the curse through His atoning sacrifice. It could be written numerically as 1⁷ + 7¹ = 8, a new beginning.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life. Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. John 5:24-25 NKJV

Takeaway:
Since YHWH is the great God and King above all gods, a consuming fire, we are called to worship Him with songs of joy and thanksgiving, for He is the threshing floor Rock of our salvation. We are the people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand. Today, if we hear His voice and harden not our hearts and go astray, we will not come into judgment but will enter His rest (Psa. 95).

Fun Factors:
Amazing number patterns appear in Yeshua’s “Truly, truly” statements.

John 5:24 has 135 letters in 31 words totaling 16884, 7 × 36 × 67, the tent of meeting’s (36) full or complete (7) Feasts of YHWH time cycle (67, the 19^th prime).

Verse 25 has 106 letters in 24 words totaling 14338, 2 × 67 × 107, full victory (107) of a second (2) time Festival time cycle (67, the 19^th prime, 6 moving to 7 is humans, 6, nuakh in Sabbath, 7).

Verses 24-25 sum to 31,222, 2 × 67 × 233, the 1^st, 19^th, and 51^st prime numbers, which if added, 1 + 19 + 51 = 71, the 20^th prime, and the sum of the first 20 prime numbers. The sum 31,222 is a 2 × 67 multiple of the sum of two squares, 8² + 13², 134 (8² + 13²), temple holiness. The reverse of 71 is 17 and appears in Yeshua’s 71 letters and 17 words of 3 verses, John 8:51, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death” and John 14:30, 31b, Yeshua’s obedience to the Father’s command to overcome death. After Israel entered Egypt with 70 me`n, Jacob lived 17 years and Joseph lived 71 years and were carried to the Promised Land dead, but in hope of the resurrection. “YHWH is my light and my salvation” has three words that sum to 639, 9 × 71 (Psa. 27:1a). Genesis 17:1’s “walk before Me and be you perfect” verse totals 5050, whose square root is 71 and cubed root is 17.