Manariwa

“And the waters prevailed on the Earth one hundred and fifty days. Then Yah remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And Yah made a wind to pass over the Earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of Heaven were also stopped, and the rain from Heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat”

– Gen. 7:24; 8:1-4

WEEK 21 (9^th to 15^th of Tishrei, the 7^th Month, in the Hebrew Religious Calendar)

By the end of this week, Noah and his family would have been in the Ark for 147 days. To prepare us for what would soon happen, the waters would “(prevail) on the Earth 150 days” and “(recede) continually from the Earth”. The Ark would then rest in the 7^th month. (Gen. 7:24; 8:1-4) This means after having been in the Ark for 22 weeks and 2 days (that is, Day 2 of Week 23, after 156 days), the floodwaters would begin to recede. That is because they entered the Ark 6 days before it began to rain. Five full months, the Earth would be submerged in water which neither increased nor decreased since the waters of the deep and the waters from the sky already stopped flowing. What is the significance of this passage?

Just as the Ruach moved upon the face of the deep at the beginning, we can also imagine Him hovering upon the face of the waters again and contemplating what He would do with the Earth. From the time we began this series up to this time, we have also been contemplating what Elohim had done, was doing and is doing since the beginning. Whether the readers accept our findings and conclusions or not, we have endeavored to remain in the light of Ruach Whose wisdom, power and guidance has sustained Creation and continues to do so until all of Elohim’s purposes shall have been fulfilled. And we did see the fulfillment of so many of the prophecies of the ancient prophets. Yet, there is so much more to deal with and meditate upon until we can get a clearer and more robust picture of the Divine Plan delivered to the ancients believers and passed on to us through scriptures.

How Knowledge Increases Today

Knowledge is increasing, no doubt, in the last days. And we know it is the “Days of Noah Part 2”. For many who believe they already have the Good News in its “completeness”, this may seem unacceptable and even doubtful. We know there are still seals on the revelations of John that remain unbroken; so to say the whole “revealed truth” has been compiled or published and nothing else remains undelivered to humans during the time of the apostles up to the present falls short of reality. We know this is not the case. While the message of Yahusha may have been actually delivered through the Ruach to the apostles as He promised, much of that “mind of Yahusha” which Paul attained, along with other believers in the 1^st century, has been hidden, discounted and diminished by humans with corrupt motives. (1 Cor. 2:13-16) Hence, even up to now, we still go through the process of reconciling historical and natural events with scriptures. We have proven this through the past few articles dealing with the Sabbath, the Resurrection of Yahusha and other matters.

For knowledge increases in two aspects: gaining new information and regaining lost information. In the same way that the Jewish exiles of Babylon and Assyria literally lost the Law of Moses and the practices that accompanied those laws and rediscovered them until the Temple was rebuilt, the present population of believers is made up of those who had gained wrong information and must need to regain the right information from Ruach. Yes, revelation was completed in the time of John when he received the final messages pertaining to the final days. But were his messages clear-cut as mathematical equations that are universally-accepted and understood by many without issue and argument? On the contrary, Revelation is the most controversial book in the whole scriptures. When the seals are broken and the meanings of many of his prophecies will have been revealed, we would then be like empty vessels hungry for knowledge never been delivered before.

The Drive to Limit and Withhold Knowledge

The mind that takes on an attitude of prideful perfection and closed-minded completeness will not be the right kind of vessel for the exciting revelation of what Elohim intend to accomplish in the final days. Well, it has been that way for centuries, when teachers and priests crystalized the Gospel into “complete structures” written on “tablets of stone” and not in “tablets of flesh”. (2 Cor. 3:3) Human flesh is living, active and moving, while stone is dead, inactive and static. The toppling of the Temple by the wrathful judgment of Yah graphically shows the removal of such beliefs and practices that bind people into obeisance to meaningless and dead rituals and traditions that still dominate today in many religious circles. The resistance to set the “Body of Yahusha” free from the restrictive chains of so many faith-systems that exist all over the world can be a strong force that parallels the hardheartedness of Pharaoh or the self-righteous disdain of the Pharisees against the revealed truth.

Add to that the ongoing work of the forces of darkness to fully remove free speech and to cancel the deserved opportunity to speak one’s mind, and we see the intentional silencing of the resurging truth as well as the propagation of bias against those who wish to remain in the truth and to spread that truth without any form of harassment or opposition. Some nations may not face such kind of censorship or suppression; but the developed nations lead the way to the path of blanketing the whole world within the darkness of ignorance. Then it will be as it was during the time of Noah when the desire to do good or the willingness to obey the laws of Yah had been totally erased as people became so wicked that every thought of the heart was evil all the time. When the cancer is totally complete, not a single good cell will last for a minute or two, just as a good person will not survive in a world that has become so totally depraved. When that happens, judgment is coming in the next blink of Yahuah’s eye.

It was also that way in Judah when Yahuah finally decided to send the Promised Seed. The Temple had been overrun by Satan’s minions. The nation of Israel was scattered all over the world, with Judah remaining the main tribe that kept the faith flickering within the suffocating presence of false teachers and careless shepherds. Perhaps, not many had kept the hope that the Masshiak would come at all. And He did come one quiet night unseen and unknown by any other soul in Bethlehem. Like Noah, only the animals bore witness to the birth of the Son of Yah in a manger, which was announced by angels to lowly shepherds watching their flocks. It would be about 2 years before the birth of Yahusha would spread through the grapevine and be noticed by an envious king whose initial instinct was to eliminate the Newborn King. It is quite hard to comprehend such wickedness often parodied by movie villains: to go all out in destroying the “Chosen One”, even murdering babies and children to achieve it. (Matt. 2:1-18)

The Magi from the East

The wise men who came from the East obviously waited for signs of the coming Masshiak. Simeon was a man waiting for the arrival of the Son of Yah. He was blessed to see and hold the infant Yahusha. (Luke 2:25-32) John grew up and preached the coming Kingdom in Jordan until the Masshiak came to him to be baptized. Many of the apostles had also waited for the promised Savior to appear in Judah; and they were greatly blessed to become part of His ministry. Waiting for the Masshiak was a national pastime of the Jews and Israelites (even until today, ironically). Likewise, the Samaritan woman at the well was waiting and talked to Yahuah Himself after she gave Him water to drink. Hence, the Magi of the East were but a small part of the number of people looking forward to the Great Promise of Consolation and Redemption.

Hence, when the Magi saw the sign from Heaven of the birth of Immanuel, they travelled for 2 years in order to witness the fulfillment of Elohim’s promise to Adam and Havah to send the Seed Who would finally destroy the “seed of the serpent”.  Why 2 years? It was the length of time that Solomon and Hiram’s navies travelled to reach Ophir and Tarshish — 3 years in all originally, going and coming back by Ezion Geber, a port Solomon built in the Gulf of Aqaba. When that port was destroyed, the old route through the Mediterranean and around Africa became the only available route and must have taken another year, hence, 2 years to and 2 years back. And so, when the wise men arrived in Yerushalem, Yahusha was already 2 years old and still lived in Bethlehem. Yes, He had to be near the Temple during His early years for several reasons:

1. Joseph and Mary knew He was the Son of Yah. They dedicated Him to Yah at the Temple and must have strictly followed all the requirements of the Law (e.g., circumcision) on behalf of their precious gift and stewardship from Heaven. Perhaps, also for their own sake, to make themselves worthy of the great privilege of taking care of the Promised Savior of Israel. They had a prophet-to-be greater than Moses who had been raised in Pharaoh’s palace; and the best they could do was to be near the place where the Presence of Yah manifested, if not in the present, in the past days of the ancient kings and prophets.
2. In short, while the Temple was ruled by hypocrites and false teachers who placed great burdens upon the nation, the Presence of Yahusha in Bethlehem and in the Temple signified a coming change in the life of Israel as a nation. The Promise had come and was about to be announced. As a child, Yahusha must have absorbed the words, the emotions and the spiritual energy of Yerushalem as the City of Yah and as the seat of worship of Yah’s people. He felt the joys through the songs and shouts of the people during the feasts, the sermons and discussions through the preaching in the synagogues, and the anguish and pains of the people praying in the Temple during their offerings and sacrifices and in their villages where He visited with His parents. At 12, He could discuss the Law with the doctors of the Law and the Scribes and, thereby, impressed them. Even His parents surprised Him with His early recognition of His mission in life. (Luke 2:41-52)
3. Yahuah was present in the Temple, once more, as in the days of David and Solomon. Only for 2 years or so, as He was growing. Unlike the Presence of Ruach which filled the Holy of  Holies and led the people to kneel and stand in awe, the Presence of Yahusha was like that of a common citizen who was a true King Who had come disguised as one of the peasants. He would eventually return to the Temple when He would be a mature Person to proclaim the message of the Kingdom. For 2 years, therefore, He graced Bethlehem and Yerushalem with His mighty Presence.
4. Lastly, He was waiting to release the initial sign of His being the Masshiak through the arrival of the Magi and their great entourage from the East, which must have led to Herod’s great envy and fear. Why from the East? We will deal with this intriguing question next.

Ophir and Tarshish: From the Queen of Sheba to the Magi

The arrival of the wise men in Yerushalem became the talk of the city, as it broke open the unannounced news of the birth of the King of the Jews and the Son of Yah. The prophecy had long been awaited since Isaiah mentioned it. (Isa. 7:14) The Magi knew it and came precisely to be part of the fulfillment. Their gifts where probably the same gifts the Queen of Sheba had brought to King Solomon about 900 years earlier: gold, frankincense and myrrh, precious gifts only kings are worthy to receive in abundance. Treasures and spices were coveted goods that the ancients bought from many parts of the world, particularly the East. The Queen of Sheba carried 120 talents of precious Ophir gold, at the same time that King Hiram of Tyre brought 420 talents from Ophir. That means the queen had journeyed 2 years to honor King Solomon and inquire of his wisdom and wealth. She was impressed and gave the gifts after their conversation, not before. (1 Kings 10:1-13)

Notice the number of talents mentioned. 420 talents was almost equivalent to the number of years the Hebrews spent in Egypt (430) before their freedom. 120 talents was the number of years Moses lived as prince, shepherd and prophet. The Queen of Sheba had just sold 420 talents of gold to Solomon and was also giving 120 talents more as bonus for teaching her the wisdom of Yah and to add to the immense wealth of Solomon. She must have been awed and humbled by the fact that yearly or so Solomon (and David before him) would send his navy to buy her gold in Ophir in order to decorate the grand Temple of Yah in Yerushalem. It was of such immeasurable honor for her to give gold for that purpose, as well as for the palaces of Solomon, her most-favored and most-loyal buyer of Ophir gold.

How much is 120 talents of gold? A talent in the Old Testament weighed 30.2 kilograms. So, it was about 3,624 tons of precious Ophir gold! Imagine how many ships she used to carry the load of gold, onyx, lumber and spices. The people of Ophir were not only blessed with treasures of the land but also of goodness of heart and faith in the Creator and Giver of Life. At a conservative present value of $2,000 per kilo, that would amount to over $7 Billion today. That was the Queen of Sheba’s gift to Solomon. How much gold did the Magi bring as offering to the King of Kings?

The Gold the Magi Brought

How many years did the Magi wait for the Masshiak? Perhaps, their whole lifetime. They must have received revelations or signs from Heaven to mark the arrival of the Masshiak and sought the tools needed to observe the skies at night. Or it might have been a skill they had learned from other nations; or it must have been a skill their ancestors had learned since the time of Enoch, Noah’s great-grandfather. The people of Ophir, Sheba, Havilah and Tarshish had come from Shem and Yoktan and must have imbibed the “science of the day”, perhaps, minus the sorcery or idolatry that came with it. They were stewards of the true Yah and were given a task to announce the official arrival of the True Inheritor of David’s Throne. Where else and who would be the most appropriate place and person for such an announcement to be made? In Yerushalem and to the King of Judah, Herod. Which they did, innocently, while fulfilling prophecy. And yet, the angels guided them all the way to the home of the young Masshiak, who was already 2 years old and living in Bethlehem, near the throne of the wicked king — His future throne handed down by David.

And so, if the Queen of Sheba brought 120 talents of gold to Solomon, how much gold did the Magi bring to Masshiak? 10 talents? 50 talents? 120 talents? 420 talents? Perhaps, more. Maybe even 1,000 talents all in all. A greater than Moses was their Host. No, a greater than Solomon. A greater than the Temple itself which must have housed over 3,000 talents of gold! For David had spent 40 years collecting the materials he needed to build the Temple but which he was not allowed to build but only Solomon, his son. Imagine Hiram buying 420 talents every other year or so for 40 years, the total amount of gold would have reached 8,400 talents or even 10,000 talents! Of course, Masshiak and every person, for that matter, is worth more than that amount of gold. However, the gift the Magi (or Kings of the East, as they are also often referred to) brought must have expressed their love and devotion to their Creator to a commensurate degree. Whatever it was, Yahusha received much gold as a young King waiting for His time to rule on David’s throne. To think it improbable or preposterous for Him to have that much gold would be inconsistent with the history, the culture and the laws of Israel itself.      

For even assuming the Queen of Sheba was giving a tenth of the gold she owned at that time, that would mean that among the Magi, their tithe to the King of Kings would have been much, much more.

Did Yahusha Need Gold?

Yes, why would the lowly Son of Yah possess so much wealth? Really? Why would the King of Kings need gold? The gold David and Solomon amassed was mainly for the Temple, although for the latter, his palaces had more gold than the Temple. After all, all the gold for the Temple had already been amassed and ready for the Temple. That is why Solomon built magnificent palaces for his own vain purposes. Yahusha must have used the gold to bless many poor people of Judah when He came of age. For after Herod heard He was in Bethlehem, he sought to kill him. And so, for another 2 years or so, the family lived in Egypt and only returned to Galilee after the death of Herod the Great. Did they lug around so much gold then? It seems unlikely. Where did they keep the gold then? It is a mystery we might never know, although we know for sure that the gold did exist. Not the small gold box we see pictured in many nativity scenes but crates or barrels of gold they carried on the backs of camels.

Who knows, the gold may have been presented to the Temple priests who had kept the Law faithfully in spite of the presence of Pharisees and Scribes who lorded it over the people? The gold was for the Temple, then and always – even in the New Yerushalem. We have been misusing the gold for millennia for selfish purposes. The explorers had sought and stolen gold to fill their coffers with the wealth of Yah’s people for millennia as well. Gold was to glorify and magnify the Creator, whether in the Temple or in the daily economy of life of the people who look up to Heaven for provision. Yet, gold has blinded so many to become bewitched by it and, thus, has brought about so much evil.

But since gold is indestructible, no matter what you do, humans will all die first and disappear from the face of the Earth before the gold will ever run out or disappear from Creation. Yet, even gold will be burned in fervent heat in the coming judgment by intense fire in the final day. Where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also. (Matt. 6:21) A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
loving favor rather than silver and gold: coming from the richest and most glorious king who did not yearn for gold as a young lad but ended up amassing so much of it as an adult. (Prov. 22:1)    

Where the Gold Came From and Where it will Ultimately Go

We need to highlight that the gold we see today could have been smelted by Elohim deep in the core of the Earth in the beginning and only brought up to the surface through thousands of volcanoes that erupted during the Flood. That is the only reason why Yah would connect the gold They had created during the time of Adam and literally unearthed in the time of Noah and, especially, reserve the finest gold to the descendants of the grandchildren of Noah who lived in the East where Solomon sailed to get the gold for the Temple of Yah. The visit of the Magi was not a minor chapter in the history of the Kingdom of Yah but has prophetic significance to the unfolding events that would reveal the final acts of Elohim with regards to the lost tribes of Israel and the coming down of the Heavenly City of Golden Streets. We have given hints as to the fulfillment of this connection. But it will take some more time to present the entirety of the unraveling of the truth that has long been hidden and suppressed.

Gold of Ophir and Tarshish, as chronicled by the explorers were like walnut-sized nuggets the natives picked up from the river beds and used to decorate their homes, bodies, and implements. There was so much gold that even the slaves had them on their dagger shields or wore them as arm bands. And for 3 centuries the colonizers shipped that gold out to finance their own economies and maintain their worldly kingdoms. In the process, the Kingdom of Yah lost its brilliance and was even replaced by fake kingdoms that tried to proclaim Yah’s name and His grace in so many idolatrous ways. The gold is there alright; but the real value from the Creator is missing. When the time for the accounting arrives, the Creator of gold will claim back all the wealth ever taken from His coffers and will use it to bless the nations in the coming Holy City where Yah’s people will walk on streets of gold, drink from the River of Life and eat from the Tree of Life.

Then all of Yah’s people will themselves shine as brilliant as gold in the majestic City where there is no pain, sorrow and death. What we see and hear about the plagues, famines, pestilences, wars and death throughout the world today will be gone and those who caused all those wicked things will face condemnation for their deeds done in connivance with Satan. But for the true, humble and faithful servant, Eternal Life will be their reward. Amen!

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