Torah Pearls – Nasso – Numbers 4:21-7:89 – Nehemia Gordon & Keith Johnson

In this episode, Nehemia shares a sneak preview of his highly anticipated book Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence: The Hebrew Power of the Priestly Blessing Unleashed. Also, does the Pope have a use-by date? What is holy water used for? Can the Law of Jealousy be explained? Was Yeshua a Nazarite? In Numbers 7:89 who is “he” and who is “him”? All this and more in this week’s Torah Pearls!

Join us for this year’s Tanakh Tour of Israel!

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35 Comments

  1. ellen says

    much better cover than the two posted yesterday on fb., good choice nehemia…i’m stll seeing the harbinger connection thru trinity church. but that’s probably just me

  2. Kimberly says

    I really appreciate Nehemia’s stance on rabbinic and New Testament teachings. Being completely ignorant of who Pharissees and Sadduccees were, it was a long time before I realized they were like the Hatfields and McCoys, or the Yankees and Red Sox! I’ve found rabbinic supporters condemning thoughts just because they come from Karaite sources and karaite supporters condemning thoughts just because they come from rabbinic sources! I’m so glad to hear from believers who are willing to “prove all things and hold fast that which is true”.

  3. Daryl Iverson says

    Profound.

  4. dot olsen says

    This was a fantastic program, gentlemen, thank you all so much! In my fantasy world where everything goes my way, the program would be expanded to 2 hours and the second hour would address questions that listeners have sent in ahead of time. As a side note, Yehovah had me cover my head for 8 years as a personal discipline (something between He and me). It was itchy, hot, took my neck out of alignment (as I piled heavy hair on top of my head) and when He released me, I was so thankful! However, I have struggled ever since wondering if this is required for married women in the Torah or not, and if I was required to return to that for life. Thank you for helping me to come to a better understanding.

  5. Timotiyos says

    Perhaps the bitter water in Number 5:18 is a law for the end times at the 3rd trumpet when Wormwood makes the waters bitter (Rev 8:10-11). The waters are made bitter to curse those who are not whole hearted for YHVH.

  6. FrankfromBerlin says

    The best “Pearls from the Torah Portion” i have heard so far. Keep it up brothers, stay sharp and set apart!
    YAH´blessings from Berlin!

  7. Sandi Hayman says

    Toda Rabah!! I am enjoying so much listening to you three bouncing off each other. There is sooo much to learn.I’m packing to move so I have the internet sound on high as I listen to The Torah Pearls. I have to stop occasionally to laugh with you guys.

    First, I’m so embarrassed at your treatment by this unnamed Aramaic believer. I first saw Nehemia and Keith on that station. I loved the way the two of you seem to compliment each other. I got so excited that I went online and purchased your book “His Hallowed Name…” Then as I saw a change, in the programming of that station, I switched over to other internet websites and Voila! I found you guys on YAHTube. Now I have listened to all your guests, some many times, but I LOVE the Torah Pearls.

    BTW, Not all of us are fooled by the divisiveness of many of the the different denominations…sadly the Messianics are “in”fected also.

    I have been trying to learn Hebrew so I could understand the scriptures better and maybe hold a conversation when I go back. My Torah teacher always goes back to the root of the Hebrew word…what does it mean and what are the other ways to look at it. I really enjoy when Nehemia reads the Hebrew and sheds light on a verse or section. Such as: I had always wondered if Moses had given Tzipporah a divorce. Especially when Moses married another. Most non-Jewish don’t understand the depth of the Hebrew…Thanks, for expounding on the Word.

    Blessings,
    Sandi in Florida

  8. Mark says

    my week is never complete w/o these pearls!

  9. TylerDawn says

    Awesome insight on the ‘fruit” of someone’s teachings. I guess we shouldn’t look at a rotten peach laying under a perfectly good apple tree and make the assumption that the apple tree is yielding bad fruit!

  10. Deborah says

    I can hardly wait each week to listen to Torah Pearls, thanks. I have a ? about last weeks portion and a comment Nehemiah made regarding the ingathering of the tribes occurring in our time. How do YOU as a Jew see the ingathering happening now? You also made a commment about the word “scatter” being interesting…would you expound on that?
    Even though these ? Are from last weeks portion, I think the subject is very timely. Looking forward to your response. Thanks

  11. Rick Winkler says

    Thank you, Nehemia, for your rant about what we from the nations have done to slander the one we claim to trust. The Torah was lost to us I think by the early goyim followers of Yeshua who liked the idea of salvation, redemption, bodily resurrection from death, eternity in Paradise, etc., but was less enthusiastic about learning and observing God’s instructions for righteous living. They misunderstood Paul’s teachings on Torah observance while ignoring Paul’s own testimony concerning the matter. They completely disregarded Peter’s testimony that all of the myriads of those in Jerusalem who follow Yeshua were zealous for the Torah and the traditions of their fathers. As a result we have had 2000 years of “church”. It not only needed to be said, it needs to be repeated until it finally sinks in.

    Finally, I was blown away buy your teaching on Matt. 5:23-24. Just imagine hearing Yeshua’s words in Hebrew and an exegesis of the same from a pious Jew. Your word by word explanation of the text brought understanding to my heart that I have for a long time yearned for. Thank you.

  12. Grover says

    GREAT session guys!!

    I do find the sotah laws (test for adultery) very fascinating. I used to think it was horrible and degrading for a woman, and why would she still want to be with him…but being married and more experienced in life now, I think that YHVH understands men and women all too well, and I think it’s really awesome.

    I think I read a Jewish source once…either that or I thought of this all on my own, I can’t remember… that if a barren woman was desperate enough, she could MAKE her husband jealous, do things that would make him question her faithfulness (but still be truly faithful though), and then when he takes her to drink the bitter waters and she passes the test, YHVH himself MUST open her womb and bless her with children because that’s what He promises. LOL Think it would work??

    Nehemia, YES I have had the head covering shoved down my throat, based on the sotah law here, because “logically” if it is passively mentioned that her head was to be UNcovered, therefore, naturally it some sort of commandment to BE covered. I always knew this couldn’t be…YHVH is so much more specific than that! Thanks for spelling it out.

  13. Gary Wold says

    I loved this program!

    Whether Yeshuah took a nazir vow or not. he would be called a nazir, consecrated “set apart/holy”.

    Keep up the Godly work 😉

  14. Miriam says

    Regarding your discussion on “holy water”: Could the “holy” water be water that is used in the Tabernacle’s service rather than from other sources (ie streams and rat falling into it etc.)? Wouldn’t water used in the service be rendered “holy” as all the other implements were holy because YHWH was there? Just my thoughts.
    I am looking forward to Nehemia’s new book. Thank you for the teaching on “twinkle of the eye” and how it shows unconditional love from our Father. Plus midrash on Moses having a dialogue with YHWH.
    What a blessed program this was.

  15. David Nowlin says

    Jono,
    I would suggest that the Prophet who spoke of Yeshua as a Netzerene would be the Prophet Isaiah in Chapter 11, verse 1.
    “A staff will emerge from the stump of Jesse”
    The Hebrew word for “staff” is “nun, tzadi, resh, or “netzer.”

  16. kathrin Rothlisberger says

    Numbers 5,6 —— Proverbs 30,9 ….. Or I be poor and steal, and profane tha name of my God.

  17. Debbie Nelson says

    Nehemia- As soon as I noticed the exclusion of sabbath in B’Midbar 7:48, you mentioned just realizing it also.
    Mazel tov to you and the most beautiful women in the world!

  18. Maryann Robinson says

    Hi Nehemia, this is Maryann Robinson, I herd you say that you were in training to get fit, well there is something missing from our diets in general. That of course is a stabilized Rice Bran, me and my sister have been talking about it a lot; yes we had to invest a small amount because it will never be put on the retail market, after reading the information you will understand why I say this. But our investment was due to our health and our siblings health. But if you had no health problems at all this still improves the quality of your food choice; or your diet. There is also a vitamin B-12 drink with a small amount of caffeine LOL:/ . OK check out Nussential or my sister’s face book Dana Patterson is her name; we listen to Torah Pearls and Kieth is our Pastor. Peace
    Maryann

  19. Tina says

    http://communio.stblogs.org/2008/08/on-the-use-of-the-name-of-god.html
    Pope Ratzinger has once again spoken on high about the real name of God Almighty.
    He was a Brown Shirt in Hitler’s youth program, I’m just sayin’.
    I was raised in a RC home (Roman Catholic) by a dad who was RC and a mom who was Baptist. She was told not to teach her children any part of her religion. She actually lived her beliefs and said not a word.
    Now I am a Karaite and have been since a few weeks after 9/11/2001.

  20. Tina says

    Belladona was used in the eyes of women in the old days.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna
    Now atropine (a derivative of belladona) is used to dilate your eyes so the eye doctor can examine the eyes.
    Atropine ophthalmic causes the muscles in your eye to become relaxed. This widens your pupil. Your pupil will remain wide and will not respond to light. Atropine ophthalmic is used to dilate (widen) your pupil.

  21. David Nowlin says

    Jono,
    To expand further on my above comment, the stump of Jessie is the hewn down Olive Tree. A netzer is a shoot which will come up from the roots even though the Olive tree is hewn down. Yeshua came to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. They were the wild hewn down Olive Tree and Yeshua is the “shoot” or “staff” as it is called in the Stone Edition Tanach. The town in which He was reared perhaps had that name for His Sake, however, it has nothing to do with Him being a “Netzer” of the Olive Tree.

  22. Sincerity Israel says

    Seek ye First the Kingdom of God

    Understand this; If you ever actually talk to or with Yehovah;

    it is not mere words. It is Words Pictures Sounds and Vibrations

    and you will know beyound doubt; that was GOD,

  23. student of Torah says

    Hmmm…I looked up the word “uncover” in that verse in Numbers about uncovering the adulterous woman’s hair, and it seems to be the same word as the word used when YHVH commands that Aaron and his sons not “uncover” their heads or rend their clothing in mourning while serving in the Mishkan. So, are we to understand that YHVH was saying that Aaron and his sons were not to mess up their hair or take down their locks? The other verses I found using the same Hebrew word all seemed to be closer in context to uncovering or baring nakedness, not to messing up ones hair or letting their hair down…

  24. student of Torah says

    Where do we see in the NT that Yeshua may have taken a Nazarite vow? MATTHEW 26:29. “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” NASB
    For a few years now, I’ve been going back and forth on this possibility of Yeshua taking the nazarite vow based on this verse. I’ve heard many convincing arguments for both sides, but never decided concretely. I just read this today from Tony Robinson of ResorationofTorah Ministries on this subject and it seems to tie up all the loose ends very well…

  25. Myra Martin says

    There is good news after all!

    My heart had gone out to the Torah’s treatment of women:
    –set apart during menstruation
    (which is part of womanhood and bearing children)
    –Leah enduring a second wife, and sister Rachel
    (as men were allowed multiple wives)
    –Men had this jealousy test about their wife

    The Good news is in John 8:10-11 where Jesus forgave the woman taken in the very act of adultery.
    (again where is the man?)
    I see Torah here with:
    –Jesus the Word of God (scrapped into the bitter water)
    –with his finger (priest used his fingers in this work)
    –wrote in ground of the temple (dirt put into the water)
    –instead of being curse
    (or blessed with a child,)
    Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more.”

    Praise JeHoVah to be cleansed by the blood of THE Lamb!!

  26. jono vandor says

    Myra, putting aside the overwhelming evidence that points to this story being added to the text a considerable time after the gospel of John was written, let’s approach the problem from the view point that it actually happened.

    John 8:3-4 states that a woman, allegedly caught in the act of adultery, was brought to Jesus by the Pharisees and the Scribes to test him. The text does not specify witnesses.

    Jesus writes something in the ground but the text does not specify what it was. Is it possible that Jesus was writing the Torah of Numbers 35:30, Deuteronomy 17:6 & Deuteronomy 19:15? Is it possible that there was only one witness and that when Jesus wrote this Torah in the dust the Pharisees and Scribes backed down?

    Was Jesus aware of this Torah? Of course he was, he quoted it only a little further on in John 8:17!

  27. Peggy Cunningham says

    These shows are invaluable to me. The more I learn, the more I am starting to believe that mankind has taken some very simple instructions to live by and turned them into ‘rules of man’ that people can’t even agree on.

    There is much debate on just about every topic, with people disagreeing on exactly how to keep the commandments. It seems they get more and more complicated, and people are agonizing over decisions that should be easy to understand and follow.

    Thank you all for cutting to the chase and giving us the simple version.

  28. Ken Alder says

    Many suppose according to Yeshua’s words in Matthew 26:28,29 that He had taken a Nazarite vow. Personally I don’t agree with that. We must keep the statement He made… “But I say to you, I shall certainly not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on till that day when I drink it anew with you in the reign of My Father.” in context. The context is marriage, i.e. The New Covenant.

    I am convinced The New Covenant IS The Book of Deuteronomy and that a person ‘enters into’ that covenant when they drink from that cup which represents The New Covenant. (I do not believe in a Re-Newed Covenant.) Yeshua makes His proposal to His Bride thru Moses back in Deuteronomy but it is not until the individual drinks from that cup representing The New Covenant that the covenant is ‘inaugurated’. When Yeshua says, “I will not drink of the cup until I drink it anew with you in the reign of My Father” He is telling us that when He drinks from the cup at that time The New Covenant will be ‘ratified’. From this you can picture in your mind ‘two bookends’ of the covenant. That of ‘inauguration’ when we drink from the cup and that of ‘ratification’ when He drinks from the cup in the reign of His Father. I am further convinced this drinking of the cup must be done in the context of a Torah Pursuant fellowship meal where the Torah is discussed with other Torah Pursuant believers in Messiah Yeshua. When this is done it is completely reasonable to believe that Yeshua is there in the midst of the fellowship just as the Essenes believed Messiah was present with them as they partook of their ‘communal meals’. If anyone would like to take a look at an article I wrote on the subject they can visit my Facebook post…

    The Master’s Table Part I… http://www.facebook.com/notes/ken-alder/the-masters-table-part-i/302782799806494

    and then

    The Master’s Table Part II http://www.facebook.com/notes/ken-alder/the-masters-table-part-ii/302827643135343

    I hope it becomes a blessing to anyone who takes the time to read it. Shalom shalom.

  29. Rebekah Alonso says

    Shalom Jono!

    I thoroughly enjoyed this program! You all are amazing! I left you a message on your personal facebook profile relating to the strange ritual involving the jealous husband and suspected wife. I would love your feedback, if you have the time, on some observations I made on just what that is a picture of. Thank you, thank you for this program!!! May you and your family be overwhelmingly blessed!!! Rebekah

  30. Ed Welch says

    The discussion concerning Number 5: 6 – 7 and Matthew 5: 23 was very helpful in understanding the teaching of Jesus and the teachings of the early Church both in Jerusalem and with the Gentiles and how Scripture/Teaching/Life is twisted bringing death and destruction.
    First mention is in Genesis 3 – twisting by Satan and acceptance by humans brought death to all humanity and bondage to all creation (Romans 8: 20 – 23).
    Peter talked about the abuse of the Word of God 2 Peter 3: 16 and the result “which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” this is talking about the teaching from Paul.
    The twisting of Scriptures has created unbelievable problems even as Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees concerning the Word from the Torah making the word null as in Mark 7: 13; they windup breaking the fifth Commandment.
    The twisting of Jesus’ teaching has brought death and bondage for which those that have knowingly done so bring upon themselves great judgments: Deuteronomy 4 and Revelation 22: 18 – 19.
    My heart weeps for YAHOVAH because our grievous sins. Daniel (Dan 9) and Isaiah (Isa 6) had the right view on repentance both personal and corporate.

  31. nicolette says

    does scripture give the same test for a wife to test her husband?

  32. shirley gibson says

    i think nehemia hit it on the head when he said that “they” want the image and the idea of Jesus but they want nothing to do with the jewish Yeshua and all that he truly stands by, for and about. It is also becoming clear that most people refuse to release their “traditions” over truth because the truth and standing with Yeshua requires something from you while tradition is habitual routine.
    Now that aside—– i would love to see Nehemia do a book or a pdf file teaching (that we can print out and study) about the messiah and what he understands and expects leading up to the messiah’s coming and what will happen after he arrives (returns). Basically for him to lay it all out with scripture reference about what he understands and expects about the messiah. There is just so much confusion and misinformation out there that leaves most of us confused and frustrated. Nehemia for your next project please help us to understand and remove the frustration and give us practical preparatory insight into the messiah and his arrival on the world scene and what we must be doing to be ready for his arrival (return). Share with us what you understand about the messiah and what you are expecting so that we He arrives – we will be able to correctly recognize Him. Love these torah pearls – they open up so much understanding – Bless you.

  33. mary says

    Thank You!!!

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